Professor Barry J. Marshall of University of Western Australia reported with his colleague the indentification and culture of a novel organism that was found to colonize the human gastric central, and upper duodenal mucosa in cases of gastritis and gastric/duodenal ulcer. Later he recognized that the new becterium now indentified as Helicobacter pylori caused severe gastritis and that it was sensitive to particular antibacterial drugs. That discovery transformed therapy in peptic ulcer from consumption of antacid H1 receptor or radical or radical gastric surgery, to a short highly effective course of antibiotics.
In 2005, Professor Marshall received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology jointly with his long-time colleague, Dr. J. Robin Warren from the same research project that brought him the Prince Mahidol Award.