Sir Ernst Boris Chain, FRS (1906 – 1979)

Oxford’s first toxinologist?

• 1935 appointed lecturer in Pathology Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford
• Research included inhibitory effects of cobra and black tiger-snake venoms on alcoholic fermentation
• Venom enzymes (nucleotidases) destroyed coenzyme of fermentation enzymes
• Pasteur cobra antivenin and CSL tiger-snake antivenin protected guinea-pigs against the lethal effects of cobra and black tiger-snake venoms and also neutralised the inhibitory effect of the venoms on alcoholic fermentation (Chain Quart. J. exp. Physiol.1937; 27: 49-54)
• 1945 Co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with Alexander Fleming, and Howard Walter Florey “for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.”