Northern Regional Research Laboratory

The Peoria laboratory opened in December 1940 to investigate industrial processes and new uses for agricultural products, particularly surplus corn and wheat. Fats, oils, carbohydrates and fermentation became important research fields. Its agricultural mission preceded its wartime role in penicillin production.

References: [1]

In 1941 Florey and Norman Heatley visited the United States seeking ways to expand production and worked with researchers in Peoria. The laboratory applied fermentation expertise to improved culture conditions, including corn-steep liquor. Alongside strain selection and industrial process development, this helped turn small laboratory quantities into a larger supply of the antibiotic.

References: [2]

Later known as the Northern Regional Research Center, the institution was renamed the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in 1990. Its research broadened to biofuels, food processing and food safety. A microbial collection begun in 1940 preserves strains for scientific work and industrial fermentation.

References: [1]