Take a step onto Sanborn Field at the University of Missouri–Columbia, and it’s a step into history.

“I’m walking in some big footsteps here,” says Tim Reinbott, the director of Sanborn Field at the University of Missouri.

Sanborn Field is the third-oldest continuous research farm in the world, but the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Nestled on the eastern edge of campus, buildings and housing have sprouted all around the field, but it’s still the root of significant scientific discoveries that are benefiting farmers and ranchers.

“We probably got more treatments than anybody else,” Reinbott explains. We have had continuous treatments for 135 years, and we’ve learned so much. And this is where so many of our common agricultural practices all started from the dollars that we gained here.”

One of the biggest breakthroughs happened 75 years ago, as the soil became the foundation of medicine still used today in humans and livestock.

“One of the interesting facts that is often overlooked is that in any soil you will find antibiotics, because it’s just the nature of how these bacteria survive in nature,” says Bob Kremer, adjunct professor of soil microbiology at the University of Missouri (Mizzou).

An Important Plot

Seventy-five years ago, Plot 23, which is still located within Sanborn Field at the university, became home to a groundbreaking discovery.

“We have to keep in mind that that was the age of the antibiotic discovery in the United States and worldwide,” Kremer says.

“Seventy-five years ago, we had known about penicillin. We had known other types of antibiotics, but they were only about 40% effective,” Reinbott explains.

“And they were looking for that golden antibiotic, that one that would really be very effective and be taken orally, not by injection.”

With so much effort to find microorganisms that could produce an antibiotic that wasn’t just effective but not toxic to humans or animals, researchers at Sanborn Field were on a mission.

“Benjamin Duggar, a gentleman that was a former faculty member here was working for Lederle Laboratories at the time, and he knew the director of Sanborn Field, who was William J. Albrecht, who was the soil microbiologist. Mr. Duggar asked him for some soil samples from Sanborn Field, that he could begin to culture for these microorganisms for some sort of an antibiotic that would serve those purposes.”

A Solution in Soil

The soil contained a golden mold that suppressed the growth of many microorganisms, including streptococci, a bacteria that causes various types of infections. From the sample, researchers eventually created aureomycin, which proved to be an antibiotic effective against 90% of bacteria-caused infections in humans.

“Dr. Albrecht then directed and assisted in collecting soil samples from Sanborn Field, which included plot 23 here, which is in continuous Timothy (grass) that had no fertilizer or manure amendments since it was established in 1888,” Kremer says.

“He knew that this plot right behind us (plot 23), that had been for 60 years managed the same way, was a perennial crop, but had no inputs. He knew we should have a lot of biology but a pretty hostile environment for them. If any place could have an antibiotic, it’s going to be here,” says Reinbott, as he stands in front of the birthing ground of aureomycin.

It was later that year, in 1945, they made the big discovery — one that proved to be a breakthrough in the medical world, for both humans and animals.

“They called it aureomycin, and ‘aureolus’ is the Latin word that means a golden color,” Reinbott adds. “It’s an antibiotic that’s been used for decades, and it’s still being used in animals. It’s also  the best treatment there is today for Rocky Mountain spotted fever.”

Reinbott says for the first 30 to 40 years after the discovery of aureomycin, it was the go-to antibiotic for human medicine, but it also grew in popularity within animal medicine.

“The aureomycin antibiotic and the tetracycline cyclin class are still very useful today, because of their mechanism of action. They attack protein synthesis in the cell of these bacteria, and (are) effective on these rickettsia diseases, like the Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Because those particular bacteria are able to infect and inhabit deep within the tissue of a human being, they also do not become resistant,” Kremer says.

Life-Saving Treatment

First discovered at the end of 1945, aureomycin underwent clinical trials and was then approved by FDA to address human ailments, starting in 1948. One of the first recipients was a young boy, Tobey Hockett, who at the time, lived just outside of Washington, D.C.

“I was born Sept. 11, 1943,” says Hockett, who is now retired and lives in Florida. “Sometime around early 1949, I got a real bad stomachache. My parents did not pay attention, and it got worse and worse before they finally rushed me to the hospital. It turns out that I had peritonitis. I had a ruptured appendix.”

Hockett says the doctors didn’t give his parents much hope for his recovery, but the doctors wanted to treat Hockett with an antibiotic that had recently been developed, which was aureomycin. He remained in the hospital for one month.

Hockett says Mizzou’s discovery 75 years ago not only saved his life, but he went on to become a defense attorney and worked to save other lives. He took on death penalty cases and helped clients through drug court.

“You can’t express thanks in words,” Hockett says. “The only thing I think about is what I’ve been able to do with my life as a result of surviving that.”

Soil Sample Goes To Smithsonian

To celebrate the discovery of aureomycin, a soil sample from Plot 23 was sent to the Smithsonian Institution where it still resides today.

The discovery at Sanborn Field wasn’t just a breakthrough for human medical science, it was also a breakthrough for livestock.

“It’s very interesting, because they discovered that it was very useful not only to prevent some of these infections, but it also is a growth promoter,” Kremer says. “In the early 1950s, they discovered that chickens, for example, grew two and a half times quicker than the traditional feed that was being used at the time.”

Aureomycin is still widely used in cattle today. Such an antibiotic discovery is estimated to cost $1.5 billion in 2023 dollars.

“We’ve more aureomycin discoveries out here, we’ve just got to look for them,” says Reinbott, standing at Sanborn Field. “It may or may not be an antibiotic, but it can be something just as groundbreaking, and that’s what gets me excited.”