BALTIMORE (Baltimore), David

genus. March 7, 1938
American expert on molecular biology David Baltimore was born in New York, the son of Gertrude Baltimore (Lipschitz) and Richard Baltimore. Primary and secondary education, David was in public school, where he showed his penchant for biology and mathematics. According to the program for gifted high school students, he spent a summer in Jacksonian mammalian genetics research laboratory in Bar Harbor (Maine). Here he met with Howard M. Temin, biology students, who had just finished Svortmor College in Pennsylvania.
In 1956, Mr.. B. graduated from high school and enrolled in Svortmor College, where he specialized in chemistry. In 1960, Mr.. He received a bachelor's degree with honors and enrolled in graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge. A year later he moved to Rockefeller University in New York, where he worked under the guidance of Richard Franklin, a recognized authority in virology. Particularly interested in B. mechanisms of viral replication in animal cells. At the ceremony of attribution B. doctoral degree in 1964. at Rockefeller University, one of the professors said: "Teachers and colleagues, David has always celebrated his ability to quickly assimilate the material and the ability to generalize."
In the 1963/64 academic year, B. continued postdoctoral studies in the Biology Department at MIT. The following year he became a member of the Board of molecular biology at New York Medical College Albert Einstein. Then, from 1965 to 1968. He worked as a research associate at Solkovskom Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolly (California). The institute, he met with Renato Dulbecco, developed a quantitative method of experimental study of genetics of viruses and classification differences between normal cells and cells which become neoplastic as a result of viral infection. In studies Dulbecco found that if the growth of normal cells is limited to the physiological mechanisms of inhibition, tumor cells are able to multiply unchecked.
In 1968. B. became an associate professor of microbiology at MIT and in 1969. - Editor of the Journal of Virology '(' Journal of Virology '). In an effort to find out how is the replication of the genetic system in living cells, he continued his initial studies of the poliomyelitis virus. B. believed that this would allow him to formulate a general hypothesis of replication of any virus systems. But by the end of the 60-ies. it became clear that there are several systems of replication. Temin, . then at the University of Wisconsin, . suggested, . that some viruses (eg, . Rous sarcoma virus, . named after Peyton Rous) in the envelope protein is an enzyme, . facilitating a doubling of viral genes in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) cells of animals,
. Temin named this hypothetical gene of proviral genome. Since nucleic acid represented Rous sarcoma virus ribonucleic acid (RNA), the theory Chomin followed that in the host cell genetic information is transferred from RNA to DNA. The notion, . that the RNA-containing viruses can cause the formation of their DNA copies, . was greeted critically by many scientists, . follow the traditional view that, . that genetic information can be transmitted only in the sequence of DNA-RNA-protein and never in the opposite direction.,
. Confirmation proviral hypothesis Chomin depended on whether the enzyme is found, causing the inclusion of viral genes in cellular DNA
. In 1970. B. and Howard Temin independently isolated this enzyme and named it the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase. In May of that year Howard Temin announced his discovery at the X International Congress of the International Union Against Cancer, and then B. reported their findings at a symposium in koldspring-harborskoy Laboratory on Long Island. Both researchers published their data in the English magazine 'Neicho' ( 'Nature') in June 1970. Soon, they were confirmed Shpigelmanom Solomon, director of the Research Institute of Cancer at Columbia University and one of the most strident critics Chomin. During the next 10 years, the process of reverse transcription has become one of the central themes of microbiological research.
Two years after the publication of works on the reverse transcriptase B. was appointed professor of biology at MIT. Then he and his colleagues carried out a partial synthesis of the gene responsible for the biosynthesis of mammalian hemoglobin contained in red blood cells and is responsible for carrying oxygen to tissues. This achievement was a major step towards the artificial manipulation and recombination of genes.
Like many other biologists, B. afraid of possible dangerous consequences of misuse of genetic engineering techniques, and so he joined a group of specialists in molecular biology, proposed to declare a moratorium on certain types of experiments with DNA. In 1973, Mr.. B. was appointed Professor of Microbiology, established by the American Cancer Society, at MIT. This post is a lifetime and provides sufficient financial support for scientific work. Continuing studies of the enzyme reverse transcriptase in other oncogenic viruses, B. found eight viruses. with this enzyme. (These viruses are now referred to as retro-viruses.) It was found that they cause diseases such as hepatitis, certain forms of human cancer and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
The importance of B. was confirmed by awarding him with Renato Dulbecco and Howard Temin of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975. 'for their discoveries concerning the interaction between oncogenic viruses and the genetic material of cells'. Summing up in his Nobel lecture summary of his research, B. said that every virus' controls the synthesis of two major classes of proteins - responsible for the replication and form the viral envelope. Formed a genetic code for reverse transcriptase, retroviruses have developed to be introduced into the chromosomes of cells in the form of provirus'.
A year after receiving the Nobel Prize B. became one of the most active founders of the Advisory Committee on DNA recombination of the National Institutes of Health. Group, supported by federal funds, has formulated guidelines for restricting research in the field of genetic engineering. In 1981. B. revised his view and suggested that these areas were chosen voluntarily, but the committee did not agree with him.
While working at MIT, is now B. is also a consultant on medicine and pediatric oncology (ie. study of tumors in children) in the Children's hospital Medical Center and Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in Boston (Massachusetts). In 1986. He was chairman of the Committee of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, carefully studying AIDS and come to the conclusion that government measures to combat the epidemic, insufficient.
In 1968. B. married to Alice Huang, a microbiologist. In the family they have one daughter. B. is a member of many professional societies including the American Association for the Advancement of Science. American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences. In addition to the Nobel Prize, . he was awarded the prize by Eli Lilly and Company for research in the field of microbiology and immunology of the American Society for Microbiology (1971), . international award Gardner Fund (1974) and the award of the National Academy of Sciences of the American Steele Foundation for Research in Molecular Biology (1974).,