A total of eighteen antibiotics were isolated in Waksman's laboratory at the New Jersey Agriculture Experimental Station at Rutgers University. Of these,
streptomycin and
neomycin, and
actinomycin were commercialized. Streptomycin, in particular, was the first antibiotic to cure
tuberculosis. Waksman used half of his personal royalties from patents for streptomycin to create the Foundation for Microbiology in 1951. The Foundation is a private organization that funds and supports microbiology research. He requested money from the Foundation to create the Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers. The idea for an institute that focused on
soil science first came from Waksman's mentor, Dr. Jacob Lipman, who taught Waksman when he was an undergraduate student and later became his colleague. The institute was founded in on June 7, 1954 with Waksman as its first director. He retired in 1958. Directors of the Waksman Institute of Microbiology
Selman A. Waksman (founder, 1954 - 1958)
Jay Oliver Lampen (1958 - 1980) David Pramer (1980 - 1988)
Joachim Messing (1988 - 2019)
Kenneth D. Irvine (2019 - present) ==References==