Robert Gallo

Robert Charles Gallo ( born March 23, 1937 in Waterbury, Connecticut) is an American virologist.

Scientific achievements

Robert Gallo was famous for his discovery of the first human retroviruses ( HTLV -1 = human T - lymphotropic virus 1 and HTLV -2 human T - lymphotropic virus = 2) in the early 1980s. 1983 he managed called it " LAV " = lymphadenopathy -associated almost parallel with the French virologist Luc Montagnier and his colleague Françoise Barré -Sinoussi at the Institut Pasteur, the discovery of another retrovirus, which was described by him beginning as " HTLV- III " ( Montagnier virus). Later it was called the HIV-1 ( human immunodeficiency virus 1).

Controversy over HIV - discovery

In HIV a priority dispute between Montagnier and Gallo, the real political dimensions assumed relaxing (among other things he was the subject of a summit meeting between Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and President Ronald Reagan). It was also about the patent rights of use of a newly developed serological tests for HIV infection. Today, the team of Luc Montagnier is credited with the original discovery. Accordingly, it was the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 Montagnier - and not Gallo - awarded.

Experience of life and science

According to his autobiography of the death of his little sister in childhood leukemia was a defining event that has a significant and early aroused his interest in cancer research. Since about the late 1960s, Gallo focused his research on potential human tumor viruses as triggers of malignant diseases. In the 60s and 1970s, many researchers believed that a significant portion of the cancer was caused by viruses in humans. In many animal species had such viruses have been found, such as the murine leukemia virus ( a retrovirus also ). Beginning of the 70s the genetics of retroviruses has been elucidated. The search for human retroviruses was despite great efforts and large resources needed for a long time without result. The late 70s, most scientists had the idea of possible human retroviruses been shelved and researchers who still dealt with it, were increasingly seen as an outsider. The discovery of the HTL and shortly after the HIV virus was a sensation and gave the retrovirus research new impetus. Together with Luc Montagnier, Gallo was awarded in 1988 for the discovery of the HIV virus with the Japan Prize; In 2009 he was awarded with prize money of $ 1 million Dan David Prize.

Non - award of the Nobel Prize and criticism of Gallo

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008 were exclusively Montagnier and Barré -Sinoussi "for the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus," as it was called in the grounds of the Nobel Committee. The fact that Gallo was not taken into account here has been criticized by leading virologists. According to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung said on the other side Bo Angelin, Member of the Nobel Prize Committee: " If we had had the slightest doubt whether more scientists were instrumental in this discovery [ of HIV ], we have determined no one excluded. "

Additional Services

In the laboratory of Robert Gallo also the cytokine interleukin -2 and 1986, the human herpes virus type 6 (HHV -6), the causative agent of the three-day fever was ( roseola infantum ) discovered. For his work Gallo won numerous awards, including the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1982 (along with John Michael Bishop, Raymond L. Erikson, Hidesaburō Hanafusa, Harold E. Varmus ), the Charles S. Mott Prize in 1984, the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 1986 (together with Luc Montagnier ), a Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1987 and the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 1999. several decades, Gallo was the director of the Laboratory of tumor Virology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH ) in Bethesda (Maryland). Since 1996 he is Director of the Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute ( IHV ).