| RefNo | EC/1980/33 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XX, 210 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Smith, Herbert Williams: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1978 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Distinguished for his contributions to the knowledge of the pathogenic and non-pathogenic enterobacteria of farm animals. He has significantly advanced the understanding of Escherichia coi and salmonella infections in livestock, and has improved the control of salmonellosis in these animals by the isolation of rough mutants of salmonellae that are used as live vaccines. He recognised at an early stage the importance of feed-additive antibacterial drugs in provoking the emergence of lines of E. coli resistant to the drugs concerned, and demonstrated that this effect was produced by very low levels of those drugs. He has carried out extensive studies of the activity of bacterial haemolysins in animals, and has devised optimal techniques for observing their production. Herbert Williams Smith has done much research on enterbacterial plasmids. His most important contribution to that subject has undoubtedly been his discovery that the synthesis of enterotoxins and haemolysins by pathogenic E. coli is frequently mediated by plasmids that are transferable or mobilisable. These fundamental observations have transformed the (sic) studies of the pathogenic E. coli of animals, and potentially those of man. They have opened up a wide field of investigation which is now being pursued in a number of countries. Herbert Williams Smith's demonstrations of the relationship between plasmid-determined heat-stable and heat-labile enterotoxins, and of the activity of plasmid-mediated haemolysins and adhesive surface antigens of pathogenic E. coli, have resulted in important advances in the understanding of factors that control pathogenicity in these organisms. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA530 | Smith; Herbert Williams (1919 - 1987) | 1919 - 1987 |