Institutum Divi Thomae

The Institutum Divi Thomæ (later called the St. Thomas Institute for Advanced Studies) was a graduate research school of science based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

At its peak, the institute's faculty and students published hundreds of scientific and technical papers and developed commercial products, attracting the attention of religious and secular press.

The accidental application of it resulted in a huge market as Preparation H. The primary active ingredient in his invention was a compound containing a live yeast cell derivative (LYCD), which Sperti named Bio-Dyne.

The Food and Drug Administration later discovered clinical testing irregularities in the use of LYCD, and it was removed from the formulation sold in the United States.

Archbishop McNicholas sought to bring these enterprises back to profitability, but concerns about institute finances were blamed for his fatal heart attack in 1950.

His successor, Archbishop Karl Joseph Alter, rejected the mixing of religion and science and sought to separate the archdiocese from scientific pursuits.

[8][10] The institute published research by its faculty and students in an academic journal, Studies of the Institutum Divi Thomae, from 1935 to 1947, with a hiatus during World War II.