A3,+Ericsson,+Annika,+Paul+Ehrlich+Scientist

**Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915)**

"NOW, ladies and gentlemen, I may perhaps take the liberty of inviting you to look into the workshop of the chemo-therapist"

Paul Ehrlich was a German bacteriologist, born in Strehlen, Germany (now Strzelin, Poland) on March 14, 1854 to a Jewish family. Ehrlich was one of the first people to become involved in chemotherapy, the treatment of disease with chemicals, and hematology, the study of blood. He first earned his doctorate of medicine through studying the theory and practice of staining animal tissue. In 1878, Ehrlich was appointed assistant at the Berlin Medical Clinic, who facilitated him to continue his practice of staining tissues with dyes, from which he could see reactions between the dye and the red and white blood cells and identify white blood corpuscles. Through studying these reactions in blood types, Ehrlich established hematology. He initiated several important principles of immunology, as well as renowned theories.

__Side-Chain Theory (Seitenkettentheorie)__  Developed in 1897 to explain immunological phenomena, a proposal that animal cells and and bacteria act like dye, containing complex molecules that react with each other through side chains, but only when the side chains have corresponding structure. Ehrlich based his theory on an understanding of the way a cell was thought to assimilate nutrients.  According to this theory, all the antibodies, or circulating side-chains, are able to neutralize disease-causing bacterium and remain in the circulation, therefore immunizing an individual from future encounters with the toxins.

His theories became famous, and his dye experiments helped him obtain further knowledge regarding the field of hematology which led him to develop a way of introducing chemical compounds to the human body to terminate the growth of disease, or chemotherapy. The Side-Chain Theory also contributed to Ehrlich's launch of chemotherapy treatments, which have become of major importance in today's world.

__Chemotherapy__ In 1908, Paul Ehrlich was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Ilya Mechnikov. Together, with the help of Ehrlich's prior research on the cells of animal tissue, the two scientists were able to see that the dye Ehrlich injected into the animal tissue affected the red and white blood cells. The experiment made it clear what the underlying principles of the immune system were. Both scientists began testing various dangerous chemicals on a host inhabiting many dangerous microorganisms. From there they could develop a chemotherapy system that used chemicals to ward off diseases that spread into the body. Chemotherapy would involve injecting chemicals into the body, killing the bad bacteria that has entered, and some of the good bacteria. However, Ehrlich's goal was to have chemicals enter the body and eliminate only harmful bacteria and microorganisms, leaving the strong, healthy tissue with no remnants that there had ever been chemicals introduced into the body, particularly the immune system. Unfortunately, this has not yet happened, as people who undergo chemotherapy often get tired or sick due to the immunizing bacteria being decimated as well as the harmful bacteria. Chemotherapy is most commonly used to treat cancer, so it could shrink the cancerous tumor or get rid of it so it no longer harms the patient.



__Other Facts__ *Later in his life, Ehrlich studied blood cells under a microscope at the Charite Hospital in Berlin, where he had been offered a position after graduating from University. He began identifying the cells, the identifications that would later serve as the ground work for hematology.

“WE MUST SEARCH for magic bullets. We must strike the parasites, and the parasites only, if possible, and to do this, we must learn to aim with chemical substances!” *Upon giving a speech, Ehrlich would use the phrase "magic-bullets " to represent his hope of finding chemical compounds that would enter the body and attack only the harmful microorganisms and leave the healthy tissue undamaged and untouched. <span style="color: #03034a; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Ehrlich died at the start of World War I, after becoming ill with arteriosclerosis, and suffering from 2 strokes, on August 20, 1915. <span style="color: #03034a; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*There are hardly any ranges of medicines or medical studies that have not benefited from experiments carefully conducted by Paul Ehrlich.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">What were some of Ehrlich's accomplishments? <span style="color: #03034a; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Discovering that red and white blood cells react with dye, which led to discovering blood cell types <span style="color: #03034a; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Developing chemotherapy to help treat illness and cure patients who carried it <span style="color: #03034a; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">*Winning the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine



<span style="color: #808080; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; text-align: center;">__Works Cited__

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Ehrlich, Paul -- Encyclopedia Britannica Online." //Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/bps/media-view/97130/1/0/0>.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Haus, the time Ehrlich's lab formally joined the Speyer, he had already tested over 300 chemical compounds against trypanosomes, the syphilis spirochete (distinguished as slender, and spirally undulating bacteria. " Ehrlich, Paul (1854-1915) - eNotes.com." //eNotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More.//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.enotes.com/paul-ehrlich-reference/paul-ehrlich>.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Paul Ehrlich." //NNDB: Tracking the entire world//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nndb.com/people/238/000086977/>.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Paul Ehrlich (German medical scientist) :: Immunity and the side-chain theory -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." //Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/180885/Paul-Ehrlich/2053/Immunity-and-the-side-chain-theory>.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Paul Ehrlich - Biography." //Nobelprize.org//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1908/ehrlich-bio.html>.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">"Paul Ehrlich: a hundred years of chemotherapy - 1891-1991 - AnimalResearch.info." //Home - AnimalResearch.info//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.animalresearch.info/en/medical/lectures/Ehrlich_thebiochemist>.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">"The Microbiology Home Page! - Art in Teaching Microbilogy." //www.personal.psu.edu//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.personal.psu.edu/jel5/micro/art.htm>.