Near this site in 1969, Jean-Francois Borel, a microbiologist on vacation, collected some soil samples and took them back to his laboratory in Basel, Switzerland, for testing.  On January 31, 1982, an organism that produced Cyclosporin A was discovered in those soil samples.  Cyclosporin A later was determined to be a product of several fungi including Tolypocladium inflatum, Trichoderma polysporun, and Cylindrocarpon lucidum. Tolyplocladium inflatum is the fungus that was found here at this site.   Cyclosporin A is an immunosuppressant drug that can be used in organ transplantations to prevent patients from rejecting the transplanted organ and was approved by the USDA in 1983 for organ transplantation.  The drug acts by inhibiting the action of interleukin-2, a messenger in the immune system that attacks foreign bodies.  This drug has also been used to treat psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, other autoimmune disorders, atopic dermitis, and ulcerative colitis. The fungus isolated from soil has saved many lives.                                                                                         

--L. Crane