A soil fungus from a Norwegian hillside made organ transplants survivable
In 1969, Sandoz microbiologist Jean-Francois Borel tested a compound from the soil fungus Tolypocladium inflatum while screening for new antibiotics. It was a disappointing antibiotic but a remarkably selective immune suppressant. Approved as ciclosporin in the early 1980s, it cut transplant rejection rates so sharply that it turned organ transplantation from a long-shot experiment into routine surgery.