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Word: chromatographs (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
Dates: during 1966-1966
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...tests involving 32 different strains of bacteria, Cornell University Biologist Martin Alexander and General Electric Chemist John Gould have found that each excretes metabolic wastes that are chemically distinct. When the waste products of a single strain are passed through a laboratory chromatograph. a device that separates chemical compounds, they produce a distinctive graph with characteristic peaks and valleys. Thus the graphs or chromatograms of unidentified bacteria can be com pared with those of known bacteria and-like fingerprints-be used to establish their exact identity...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Biochemistry: Fingerprinting Bacteria | 7/1/1966 | See Source »

Segregated Compounds. To prepare a bacterial chromatogram, Scientists Alexander and Gould use a pure strain of bacteria, allow them to grow for several hours in a nutrient solution, then extract the metabolic products that have been excreted. These are injected into a chromatograph, where they are converted by heat into gaseous form and fed into a column containing a packing material and an organic liquid such as Carbowax-a chemical that has a different attraction for the molecules of each chemical compound. Thus every compound that passes through the column is slowed to a degree...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Biochemistry: Fingerprinting Bacteria | 7/1/1966 | See Source »

...varying speeds, the compounds that constitute the metabolic products are segregated. As each compound emerges-in order of its speed through the column-it is sensed by an ionization detector and recorded on a graph as a distinct peak. Within minutes, all of the compounds have passed through the chromatograph, each forming its own peak on the graph. Since the metabolic products of each strain of bacteria contain different chem ical compounds, each chromatogram forms an easily identifiable profile...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Biochemistry: Fingerprinting Bacteria | 7/1/1966 | See Source »

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