Secret Life of the Brewer's Yeast: A Microbiology Tale

Book excerpt: Ben Ketchum is a microbiologist who lives in Montana and has just one year left to gain his tenure. Ben also lost his anthrax grant so now he's forced to turn to the brewer's yeast, a microbe he knows virtually nothing about, just to keep his lab up & running. On a whim, the bacteriologist buys a ticket to Egypt - birthplace of perhaps the world's oldest civilization - where he learns about the yeast's role in building the pyramids, as well as the history of brewing, baking, and winemaking. Next, Ben travels to a more recent example of a beer culture - Germany - where he learns the yeast's role in bringing about Western civilization including the field of biochemistry. Lastly, Ben attends a symposium on the brewer's yeast, where he uncovers all the ways the yeast has been helping scientists accomplish such diverse tasks as manufacturing valuable human proteins and even gaining insight into the origins of cancer. This is part one of a longer novel ""Cystic Fibrosis & the Brewer's Yeast.""