5 By Daria Zaitseva Some scientific discoveries would not happen if it was not for luck. An apple falling next to Newton led to the notion of gravitation [1]; Roentgen’s investigation into the mysteriously glowing little screen in his laboratory resulted in the discovery of X-ray [2]. Serendipitous discoveries are never lacking in the history of science. This article reveals yet another unintentional but lifesaving discovery, or more precisely – the rediscovery of cisplatin by Barnett Rosenberg. Rosenberg graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1948, and obtained his master’s and doctorate degrees in physics from New York University in 1950 and 1955 respectively [3]. Being trained as a physicist allowed him to come up with insights that may not be obvious to biologists: He noticed how the mitotic spindle in a dividing cell look like the electric field lines between two opposite charges (or the magnetic field lines between two opposite poles) (Figure 1). Is it just a coincidence? Or does electromagnetism have to do with cell division? Figure 1 A dividing cell with chromosomes attached to the mitotic spindle (left) and the electric field lines between two opposite charges (right). In 1965, Rosenberg tested his unusual idea on the bacteria Escherichia coli [4, 5], although it did not rely on the formation of mitotic spindle for cell division. Using platinum electrodes which were supposed to be both biologically and chemically inert, he sent a current through the bacterial solution containing ammonium chloride as a pH buffer [6]. Whatever his predictions had been, the results were simply mind-blowing. The microorganisms did not divide faster; instead, they stretched as if they wanted to divide but failed to do so. Their length increased up to 300 times compared to their normal size [7]! So, Rosenberg thought the current did affect cell division. Nevertheless, this is not true. Over the next two years, Rosenberg found that it was not the electricity that stopped the cell division, but the chemical compound cisplatin (Figure 2) produced in the reaction [4, 5]. Cisplatin had already been discovered by the Italian chemist Michele Peyrone in 1854, but was not studied much until Rosenberg’s rediscovery [4]. Together with many new substances which had the ability to inhibit cell proliferation, cisplatin was considered as a drug candidate for chemotherapy [4]. Figure 2 Chemical structure of cisplatin. A Lucky Strike: Rediscovery of an Anti-Cancer Drug by Barnett Rosenberg 把握機遇： Barnett Rosenberg的 抗癌藥物大發現
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