Charles Weissmann
Life and work
Charles Weissmann was born the son of Chil and Berta Weissmann in Budapest. Since 1931 he lived in Zurich, where he attended primary school, and since 1941 in Rio de Janeiro. Even there his enthusiasm for the research was aroused, particularly by the book Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif. 1946 - back in Switzerland - he attended the Cantonal School Zurich. Subsequently, he studied from 1950 at the University of Zurich, where he in 1957 Dr. phil med and 1961 with Paul Karrer in organic chemistry to Dr.. received his doctorate. In the same year he went as a postdoctoral fellow at the Severo Ochoa Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine of New York University, where he became assistant professor in 1964 and associate professor in 1965. In 1967 he returned to Zurich to conduct an associate professor the University Institute of Molecular Biology. From 1970 to 1999 he was also professor of molecular biology at the University of Zurich. After his retirement he went to St. Mary's Hospital and to the University College London. Since 2004, he continues his research at the new Scripps Research Institute in Florida continues.
At the beginning of his scientific career, Weissmann worked with bacteriophages. So he was able to enlighten the structure and propagation of RNA-containing viruses. In addition, he developed the method of reverse genetics. In 1978 he was one of the founders of the Geneva-based company Biogen, for which he devised a way to alpha interferon artificially. To this end, he isolated the human interferon gene and brought it into the genome of Escherichia coli. Thus large amounts of interferon could be produced, which are used for the treatment of hepatitis B, and certain types of cancer, such as hairy cell leukemia and Kaposi's sarcoma. As of 1983, Weissmann devoted prion research. He succeeded in turning off the gene that the healthy PrPC precursor protein of the pathogenic PrPSc protein encoded so that he could breed resistant mice.
Publications
Weissmann has published more than 275 papers in journals. In addition:
- The importance of transaminases for internal diagnostics. Dissertation, Schwabe, Zurich, Basel 1957
- Strychanon, a breakdown product of strychnine and its relationship to the calabash alkaloids. Dissertation, Zurich 1961
- Genetic manipulation. Achievements and prospects. Naturalist Society, Zurich 1978