State microbe
In November 2009, Assembly Bill 556 that proposed designating Lactococcus lactis as Wisconsin state microbe was introduced by Representatives Hebl, Vruwink, Williams, Pasch, Danou, and Fields; it was cosponsored by Senator Taylor.
[10] The bacterium was discovered on a decaying ʻākia shrub by Iris Kuo, a high school student working with Stuart Donachie at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa.
[20] Cosponsors of the measure were: Representatives Dembrow, McLane, Vega Pederson, Whisnant, Williamson, and Senators Hansell, Prozanski, and Thomsen.
[20] HCR-12 recognizes the history of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in baking and brewing, thanks to its ability to convert fermentable sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
Most important for Oregon is that the microbe is essential to the production of alcoholic beverages such as mead, wine, beer, and distilled spirits.
Moreover, New Jersey was the home of Selman Waksman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his systematic studies of antibiotic production by S. griseus and other soil microbes.
The Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Science (SEBS) Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology hosted a poll for New Jersey State Microbe.
[42] Titled "How to Get Your Own Official State Microbe" the presentation stressed the importance of clear communication and legislator contact by academic, industrial, and student supporters.
Authors of the presentations were Douglas Eveleigh, Jeff Boyd, Max Haggblom, Jessica Lisa, and John Warhol.
[43][44] In early November 2018, Rutgers University launched a web page recognizing the Selman Waksman Museum at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
"[48] The installation features interactive learning stations in which museum-goers can discover the many ways that microbes shape life on Earth.
[49] Speaking at the opening ceremony for the exhibit were LSC Chief Executive Officer Paul Hoffman, NJ Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, Rutgers University Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology Chairman Max Haggblom,[27] Merck Executive Director for Infectious Diseases Todd Black,[50] American Society for Microbiology Outreach Manager Dr Katherine Lontok, and science author Dr John Warhol of The Warhol Institute.
[66] On November 30, 2018, Jeff Boyd was featured on the cover of the Daily Targum in an article titled "Rutgers Professors Nominate Tuberculosis-Curing Bacteria for Official State Microbe".
On Feb 21, Dr Jeffrey Boyd spoke with NJ Monthly for an article titled "Not Your Average Germ: New Jersey Considers a State Microbe".
[69] On February 26, 2018, after the Assembly vote, Dr John Warhol was interviewed by Rebeca Ibarra[70] of National Public Radio/WNYC for comments about the new State Microbe.
[71] After Governor Murphy signed the State Microbe bill into law on May 10, 2019, additional press coverage developed in a variety of outlets.
This continues the effort started by James Tokioka in 2013, and later contested in 2014 by Senator Glenn Wakai's SB3124 bill proposing Aliivibrio fischeri instead.
At Oxford University in England a team including Dr. Howard Florey, Dr. Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley took up the goal of finding solutions to penicillin recovery issues.
After a referral on who best to contact about increasing production, Florey and Heatley secretly came to Peoria Illinois on July 14, 1941, with their penicillin producing mold.
There at the "Ag Lab" corn steep liquor, a byproduct of alcohol production, had been used for growing mold cultures in the past.
After the isolation trials selected the most promising mold strains, methods for the industrialized production of penicillin were developed there in Peoria, Illinois.
The mass production techniques developed at the Ag Lab enabled the United States and its allies to have penicillin available for the D-Day invasion in 1944.
On August 7, 2018, while driving home and listening to National Public Radio's broadcast of "All Things Considered," Gary Kuzniar heard an interesting story about State Microbe designations.
The next month Dr. Neil Price was walking in the hallway with two petri dish plasticized mold props and Gary asked him what they were.
Gary mentioned that he had heard a radio program on state microbes and that the penicillin he had in his hands would be a good candidate for Illinois.
On February 15, 2019, Senator Dave Koehler introduced SB 1857, legislation that designates Penicillium chrysogenum NRRL 1951 as the Official State Microbe of Illinois.
During the Spring 2019 Illinois Legislative session, it was learned that current DNA analysis on the famous Penicillium chrysogenum strain from the 1940s resulted in a name change to P. rubens.
In the Spring 2021 Session, new bills were introduced in both the IL Senate and House to denote an Illinois State Microbe (SB 2004 and HB1879).
Journalist Phil Luciano of the Journal Star interviewed Neil Price of the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research.
Small Penicillium plushes from Giant Microbes were attached to folders containing the letters of support and then given to local legislators and others along with a cantaloupe.
