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Event |
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LJ Old, EA Boyse, E Oettgen, ED Harven, ED Geering, B Williamson, P Clifford, 'Precipitating antibody in human serum to an antigen present in cultured Burkitt's lymphoma cells', Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 56 (1966), 1699–1704.1966-12-01T00:00:00+0000| Dec 1966 | | Scientists detect antibodies to the Epstein-Barr virus in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer which suggest the cancer is caused by a virus. Old, Boyse, Oettgen | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | Cancer immunotherapy, Oncology, Virology |
The vaccine, RA27/3 had been developed by a team headed by Stanley Plotkin.1969-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1969 - 1970 | | First license approved in US and Europe for vaccine against rubella (German measles)Plotkin | Wistar Institute | Vaccines, Virology, Infectious diseases |
Reverse transcriptase is a restriction enzyme that cuts DNA molecules at specific sites. The enzyme was simultaneously discovered independently by Howard Temin and David Baltimore. Temin made the discovery while working on Rous sacoma virions and Baltimore was working on the poliovirus and vesicular stomatis virus. The discovery laid the foundations for the the disciplines of retrovirology and cancer biology and ability to produce recombinant DNA. The findings were published in D Baltimore, 'RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in virions of RNA tumour viruses' Nature, 226 (1970), 1209–11 and HM Temin, S Mizutani, 'RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in virions of Rous sarcoma virus', Nature, 226 (1970), 1211–13.
1970-07-27T00:00:00+0000| 27 Jul 1970 | | Reverse transcriptase first isolatedBaltimore, Temin, Mizutani | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin | Genetics, Virology, Recombinant DNA |
Stanley was an American biochemist and virologist. In 1935 he managed to crystalise the tobacco virus, the causative agent of plant disease. This was a major breakthrough because prior to this no scientists had succeeded in finding out what viruses were. His work laid the foundation for other scientists, using x-ray diffraction, to work out the precise molecular structures and reproduction process of several viruses. During World War II he managed to purify several of the most common influenza viruses and developed a vaccine that was partly effective. In 1946 he shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the 'preparation of enzymes and virus proteins in a pure form.' 1971-06-15T00:00:00+0000| 15 Jun 1971 | | Wendell M Stanley diedStanley | Rockefeller Institute | Biochemistry, Virology, Vaccines |
An American pathologist, Rous won the 1966 Nobel Prize for showing how viruses could cause cancer. He demonstrated this in 1910 by transplanting some material from a cancer tumour taken from a sick chicken into a healthy chicken. The healthy chicken developed cancer. Other scientists struggled to replicate his experiment in mammals so his discovery was initially dismissed. 1972-02-16T00:00:00+0000| 16 Feb 1972 | | Francis Peyton Rous diedRous | Rockefeller University | Virology, Oncology |
The cloning, achieved by Beverly Griffin with Tomas Lindahl, was announced to a meeting at Cold Spring Harbor1979-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1979 | | First DNA fragments of Epstein Barr Virus cloned Griffin, Lindahl | Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, University of Gothenberg | Recombinant DNA, Virology, Cloning |
The vaccine was developed by Stanley Plotkin, Hilary Koprowski and Tadeusz Wiktor at the Wistar Institute1980-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1980 | | US licensed first rabies vaccine for human useKoprowski, Plotkin, Wiktor | Wistar Institute | Vaccines, Virology |
A German biophysicist, Delbruck helped discover how viruses replicate their genetic structure, showing that bacterial resistance from viruses is due to random mutation and not the result of adaptive changes. This work showed that viruses reproduce in one step and not exponentially as happens in the case of cellular organisms. In 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine on the back of this work. Blending biochemistry with genetics, Delbruck made substantial contributions to uncovering important aspects of genetics.1981-03-09T00:00:00+0000| 9 Mar 1981 | | Max Delbruck diedDelbruck | California Institute of Technology | Genetics, Virology |
The work, led by Beverly Griffin, opened up the possibility of sequencing the virus. It was published in J R Arrand, L. Rymo, J E Walsh, E Bjorck, T Lindahl and B E Griffin, ‘Molecular cloning of the complete Epstein-Barr virus genome as a set of overlapping restriction endonuclease fragments’, Nucleic Acids Research, 9/13 (1981), 2999-2014.1981-07-10T00:00:00+0000| 10 Jul 1981 | | Complete library of overlapping DNA fragments of Epstein Barr Virus clonedGriffin, Arrand, Walsh, Bjorck, Rymo | Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, University of Gothenberg | Recombinant DNA, Oncology, Virology, Cloning |
The drug was originally synthesised by Howard Schaeffer and then worked on by Gertrude Elion and her team at the Wellcome Research Laboratories. Elion's group worked out the metabolism of the drug and how it coluld attack the herpes virus. Their work opened up further research on enzyme differences in normal and virus-infected cells that paved the way to the development of other antiviral drugs. 1982-03-29T00:00:00+0000| 29 Mar 1982 | | FDA approved acyclovir, the first successful antiviral drug, for treating the herpes virusElion, Howard | Wellcome Research Laboratories | Virology |
Based on investigation of blood drawn from AIDS patients who developed Kaposi sarcoma, a cancer caused by a virus. The research was carried out by Susan Krown and Bijan Safai.1983-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1983 | | Link drawn between immune deficiency and cancer | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | Immunology, Oncology, Virology |
WHO, WHO Technical Report Series, No. 691 (Geneva: WHO, 1983).1983-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1983 | | WHO argued hepatitis B virus second only to tobacco as cause of cancer | | Oncology, Virology |
M Durst, L Gissmann, H Ikenberg, H zur Hausen, 'A papillomavirus DNA from a cervical carcinoma and its prevalence in cancer biopsy samples from different geographic regions', Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 80 (1983), 3812-15.1983-06-01T00:00:00+0000| Jun 1983 | | Harald Zur Hausen identifies the human papillomavirus as the causative agent of cervical cancerzur Hausen | University of Freiberg | Oncology, Virology |
An American microbiologist, Enders shared the 1954 Nobel Prize for helping to develop a technique to grow the poliomyeltitis virus in various types of tissue culture. This he achieved with colleagues Thomas Weller and Fredric Robbins in 1949. Their technique paved the way for Jonas Salk's development of a vaccine against polio. Enders is also renowned for having helped pioneer the first measles vaccine. 1985-09-08T00:00:00+0000| 8 Sep 1985 | | John F Enders diedEnders | Children's Hospital Boston | Virology, Vaccines, Infectious diseases |
The approval was given based on results from a clinical trial carried out by Harry Herr and Herbert Oettgen. The BCG vaccine stimulates an immune response that targets both the tuberculosis bacteria and bladder cancer cells. 1990-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1990 | | US FDA approved BCG, a bacterial vaccine against tuberculosis, to treat early stage bladder cancer. It was the first FDA approved immunotherapyHerr, Oettgen | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | Immunology, Cancer immunotherapy, Oncology, Virology, Vaccines |
Luria was an IItalian microbiologist who made his name in 1943 when he demonstrated, with Max Delbruck, that viruses undergo permanent changes in their hereditary material. The same year he and Delbruck showed phage-resistant bacteria resulted from spontaneous mutations rather than as a direct response to environmental changes. Their work helped explain how bacteria develop antibiotic resistance. Luria had landed up working with Delbruck in the US because he was banned from academic research fellowships in Italy under Mussolini's Italian fascist regime because of his Jewish background. In 1969 Luria was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for helping to discover the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses.1991-02-06T00:00:00+0000| 6 Feb 1991 | | Salvador E Luria diedLuria | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Genetics, Virology |
Temin was an American geneticist and virologist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on the interactions between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell. In 1969 he demonstrated that certain tumour viruses carry the ability to reverse the flow of information from RNA back to DNA using the enzyme reverse transcriptase. The same enzyme is now is known to be linked to the widespread spread of viral diseases like AIDs and Hepatitis B.1994-02-09T00:00:00+0000| 9 Feb 1994 | | Howard M Temin diedTemin | University of Wisconsin | Genetics, Virology, Oncology |
Lwoff was a microbiologist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for Medicine for 'discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis'. This was based on work he carried out in the early 1950s to understand lysogeny. This is the process by which some the genes of some viruses, bacteriophages (phage), get incorporated into the genetic material of a bacteria but remain latent until the formation of a new phage triggered by a particular event. He found that exposure to ultraviolet light was one factor that could spur on the development a new phage. Lwoff also discovered that vitamins help promote growth in microbes and can serve as co-enzymes. 1994-09-30T00:00:00+0000| 30 Sep 1994 | | Andre Michel Lwoff diedLwoff | Pasteur Institute | Microbiology, Virology |
Wyckoff was a major pioneer of x-ray crystallography of bacteria. He helped develop a high-speed centrifuge for segregating microscopic and submicroscopic material to determine the sizes and molecular weights of small particles. In addition he purified the virus that causes equine encephalomyelitis which laid the foundation for the development of a vaccine to combat an epidemic of the disease in horses. His work in this field enabled him to create a vaccine against epidemic typhus for use in World War II.1994-11-03T00:00:00+0000| 3 Nov 1994 | | Ralph W G Wyckoff diedWyckoff | University of Michigan, University of Arizona | Bacteriology, Virology, Vaccines |
Developed by William Wunner at the Wistar Institute1995-01-01T00:00:00+0000| 1995 | | US licensed first wildlife rabies vaccine | Wistar Institute | Vaccine, Virology |
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