Igor Nicholas Asheshov records

Igor Nicholas Asheshov (born, 1891) was a Russian bacteriologist and educator who specialized in research on bacterial viruses. Born in Russia 13 August 1891, he attended Prince Tenishev’s School in Petrograd, graduated in 1916 from the Saratov Imperial University, and did post-graduate work from 1918 to 1920 at the Central Bacteriological Laboratory of the Armies of South Russia where he conducted research on typhus. In 1928 the Government of British India invited him to take over d’Herelle’s research work on the cholera bacteriophage in India. In 1935 he became Research Officer for the Medical Research Council in London. After two years in this post he immigrated to Canada to join the Faculty of Medicine (Department of Bacteriology and Immunology) at the University of Western Ontario as Associate Professor.

Dr. Asheshov worked at the New York Botanical Garden from 1948 to 1953 as Bacteriologist-in-Charge of research on inhibition of bacterial viruses, under the direction of William Jacob Robbins. Asheshov directed experimental programs at the NYBG to isolate and identify bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) in the search for substances to combat influenza, poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis), and other human diseases. In his research Asheshov screened cultures of microscopic fungi, like Aspergillus fumigatus and species of Streptomyces, and actinomycetes (filamentous bacteria) to develop antibiotics for use as therapeutic agents.

A critical part of Asheshov’s research was funded by grants from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to find antibiotics to inhibit or destroy the polio virus. In this program he and his colleagues Marjorie Anchel, Helen Flon, Elizabeth A. Hall, Frederick Kavanaugh, and Freda Strelitz screened antibiotic chemicals grown in culture against a wide range of bacterial viruses and developed methods for their production. He directed tests of the antiviral Phagopedin sigma (fumagillin) and demonstrated its activity against a variety of streptococci bacilli. The team also isolated the antibiotics Phagolessin A58, Nybomycin, and Chrysomycin. Though these were not the final breakthrough in the search for a cure for polio, all were important contributions to the fields of bacteriology and antibiotic medicine.

Concurrent with his NYBG position, Asheshov held a faculty appointment at Columbia University as a Lecturer in Botany, teaching the course “The Biology of Bacterial Viruses.” At the cessation of funding by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, he continued his work from 1953 to 1954 under a grant from the American Cancer Society. He then joined the Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine in London, England. Dr. Asheshov published over 40 scientific papers on bacteriology, seven of which relate to his research at the NYBG.