A biochemist who received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1923, Florence B. Seibert (1897-1991) is best known for her research in the biochemistry of tuberculosis. She developed the protein substance used for the tuberculosis skin test.

The protein substance used for the tuberculosis skin test was developed by Florence B. Seibert and was adopted as the standard in 1941 by the United States and a year later by the World Health Organization. In addition, in the early 1920s, Seibert discovered that the sudden fevers that sometimes occurred during intravenous injections were caused by bacteria in the distilled water that was used to make the protein solutions. She invented a distillation apparatus that prevented contamination. This research had great practical significance later when intravenous blood transfusions became widely used in surgery. Seibert authored or coauthored more than a hundred scientific papers. Her later research involved the study of bacteria...