One who led the isolation of streptomycin from Streptomyces griseus:

• A. Vuillemin
• B. Waksman
• C. Florey and Chain
• D. Alexander Fleming

Answer: (B)

Streptomycin’s significance lies in being one of the first antibiotics effective against tuberculosis, found from the soil bacterium Streptomyces griseus. The key figure who directed the effort to isolate and characterize this compound was Selman Waksman, who led the research program at Rutgers University. His team, including a young student who contributed to the isolation work, carried out the screening of soil microbes, isolation, and purification of streptomycin, bringing this lifesaving drug to light in the 1940s.

Other names on the list are connected to different antibiotics or stages in antibiotic history: Fleming is famous for discovering penicillin, and Florey and Chain helped develop and purify penicillin for widespread use. Vuillemin isn’t the figure associated with streptomycin’s isolation.