They carried out independent research from 1932 through 1939 , trying to cure tuberculosis by finding a substance that could dissolve the fatty outer coating of the TB bacillus .
Substance would be vulnerable to being destroyed by a drug .
They carried out independent research from 1932 through 1939 , trying to cure tuberculosis by finding a substance that could dissolve the fatty outer coating of the TB bacillus so that it would be vulnerable to being destroyed by a drug .