Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Who discovered coagulogen in horseshoe crab blood?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
horseshoe crab
Horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus).
The discovery of coagulogen in the blood of horseshoe crabs is credited to the American scientist Frederick Bang in 1956.12
Following this discovery, American hematologist Jack Levin utilized the findings to develop the Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) test during the 1960s. This test, which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1973, is a critical medical tool used to detect the presence of gram-negative bacteria in injectable drugs and on medical instruments.12