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SUMMARY:HIV and the Naked Ape - Professor Robin Weiss\, University College
  London
DTSTART:20080201T173000Z
DTEND:20080201T183000Z
UID:TALK8733@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\n\nAlthough human DNA is 98% similar to that of the c
 himpanzee\, the infections we catch are ~80% different.  Some pathogens ha
 ve co-evolved with the host\nsince chimpanzees and hominids diverged\, but
  most are serendipitous acquisitions that we have picked up as humans spre
 ad across the world.  In fact\, pandemic infections like smallpox and infl
 uenza only date from the last 12\,000 years or so after we adopted settled
  farming communities and later developed large colonies known as cities.  
 Does the history of infectious diseases help to predict future epidemics? 
  I shall illustrate my story with examples of HIV and ectoparasites.\n\nBi
 ography\n\nRobin Weiss is Professor of Viral Oncology at University Colleg
 e London. He gained a BSc in Zoology at UCL in 1961 and a PhD in 1969. He 
 has spent most of his career studying retroviruses\, contributing to the d
 iscovery of viral genomes inherited as Mendelian traits in host DNA. In th
 e 1970s\, he worked with Peter K Vogt in USA and at the Imperial Cancer Re
 search Fund\, London. From 1980-1989 he was Director of the Institute of C
 ancer Research\, Royal Marsden Hospital\, and he returned to UCL in 1999. 
 \nProfessor Weiss has pioneered aspects of our understanding of HIV and AI
 DS\, particularly on the identification of CD4 as the HIV receptor and on 
 the analysis of neutralizing antibodies. He has also conducted research on
  AIDS-associated malignancies\, and on pig viruses in relation to xenotran
 splantation. He has been President of the British Association for Cancer R
 esearch and he is currently President of the Society for General Microbiol
 ogy.\n\nIn 2007 Professor Weiss was awarded the prestigious Ernst Chain Aw
 ard by Imperial College\, in recognition of his pioneering work on HIV/AID
 S. Robin Weiss is currently leading a $25 million international research c
 onsortium\, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation\, in HIV vacci
 ne discovery.\n
LOCATION:LMH\, Lady Mitchell Hall
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