March 1, 2004
Pioneering AIDS researcher Robert Gallo will
speak on Thursday, March 4
By Tim Stephens
Robert C. Gallo, M.D., the scientist who 20 years ago codiscovered
the HIV virus as the cause of AIDS, will deliver the fourth annual Sinsheimer
Distinguished Lecture in Biology at UCSC on Thursday, March 4. The title
of his talk is "HIV and AIDS in the 21st Century."
Robert Gallo and his team pioneered the development of the HIV
blood test in the early 1980s, and he has spent much of his career
trying to put an end to the devastating AIDS epidemic.
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The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 4
p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at Colleges Nine and Ten on the UCSC campus.
Free parking and shuttle service to the event will be available after
3:30 p.m. at the Barn Theater by the main campus entrance.
Gallo, founder and director of the Institute of Human Virology in Baltimore,
will discuss some of the features that make HIV such a deadly virus,
suggest ways that scientists can help poor countries hit hard by the
AIDS epidemic, and outline the steps that could lead to a preventive
vaccine.
Gallo was head of the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Tumor
Cell Biology in 1981 when the mysterious disease known as AIDS was first
recognized. He has spent much of his career trying to put an end to
the devastating AIDS epidemic.
Though best known for his codiscovery of HIV, Gallo and his team also
pioneered the development of the HIV blood test in the early 1980s,
which enabled health care workers for the first time to screen for the
AIDS virus, leading to a more rapid diagnosis while also protecting
patients receiving blood transfusions. His research also helped physicians
develop HIV therapies to prolong the lives of those infected with the
virus.
Prior to the AIDS epidemic, Gallo was the first to identify a human
retrovirus, the human leukemia virus (HTLV). In 1976, he and his colleagues
discovered Interleukin-2, which is a growth-regulating substance now
used as therapy in some cancers and sometimes for AIDS. And in 1986,
he and his group discovered the first new human herpes virus in more
than 25 years (HHV-6).
Today, Gallo's work continues at the Institute of Human Virology, which
combines research, patient care, and prevention programs in a concerted
effort to speed the pace of progress against AIDS. The institute is
a part of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and is
affiliated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Enormous progress has been made in the past 20 years in basic studies
of human retroviruses, including the elucidation of their replication
cycles and most of the mechanisms by which they cause disease. According
to Gallo, scientists probably now know as much about HIV as they do
about any virus, and may know as much about AIDS as they do about any
disease.
For some, HIV no longer produces a predictable death. Rather, with
therapy, HIV infection is often a chronic disease with far less morbidity
than in the past.
Furthermore, pediatric AIDS has been almost eliminated in the industrial
world. But the good news, Gallo says, is tempered by major challenges:
the emergence of drug-resistant strains of HIV; the toxicity of drugs
needed for years and probably for a patient's lifetime; the rise in
cancer incidence in HIV-infected patients; the increasing epidemic in
some populations in Western nations; the increasing numbers of people
doubly infected with HIV and tuberculosis or hepatitis C, and their
worse prognosis; the considerable uncertainty about the future of the
epidemic; the lack of a preventive vaccine; and the dramatic epidemic
in parts of the world that face enormous financial and infrastructure
challenges.
Gallo's interest in science and medicine was first stirred by the loss
of his 6-year-old sister to leukemia when he was a teen. The physicians
who cared for her made a lasting impression, and Gallo would later make
scientific research and the effort to put an end to deadly diseases
his life's work.
Gallo's research has brought him international recognition as well
as election into the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute
of Medicine. He has been awarded honors for his contributions to science
from countries around the world and holds 15 honorary doctorates. Gallo
was the most-referenced scientist in the world in the 1980s and 1990s,
when he had the unique distinction of twice winning the prestigious
Albert Lasker Award in Medicine (in 1982 and 1986). He is the author
of more than 1,100 scientific publications and the book Virus Hunting--AIDS,
Cancer & the Human Retrovirus: A Story of Scientific Discovery.
The Sinsheimer Distinguished Lectureship in Biology is supported by
an endowment from UCSC Chancellor Emeritus Robert L. Sinsheimer and
his wife, Karen. Robert Sinsheimer, who was chancellor from 1977 to
1987, is a renowned molecular biologist and a member of the National
Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences. The lecture is hosted this year by UCSC's Department
of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and cosponsored by KUSP Radio.
For more information about the lecture, contact the University Events
Office at (831) 459-1438.
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