1. Edward Abraham completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Sir Robert Robinson, during which he was the first to crystallise lysozyme, an enzyme discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming and shown to have antibacterial properties, and was later the first enzyme to have its structure solved using X-ray crystallography, by Lord David Phillips.
In 1938 Edward Abraham won a Rockefeller Foundation travel fellowship and spent a year in Stockholm at the Biokemiska Institut.
Edward Abraham then moved back to Oxford and became part of a research team led by Sir Howard Florey at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, responsible for the development of penicillin and its medical applications.
Edward Abraham was specifically involved in the purification process and determination of its chemical structure.
In 1940 Edward Abraham discovered penicillinase as the cause of bacterial resistance to antibiotics such as penicillin.
Edward Abraham showed that modification of the 7-amino-cephalosporanic acid nucleus was able to increase the potency of this antibiotic and registered a patent on the compound.
Edward Abraham was born at 47 South View Road, Shirley, Southampton.
Edward Abraham's parents were Maria Agnes Abraham, nee Hearne and Albert Penley Abraham, a customs and excise officer.
Edward Abraham died in May 1999, in Oxford, following a stroke.
Edward Abraham was a noted biochemist, his work on antibiotics producing great clinical advances.
Edward Abraham was the recipient of many awards over his lifetime:.