Faculty Bibliography

Their tissue culture technique for growing viruses yielded a number of unexpected dividends that expanded the scope of infectious diseases studies as scientists isolated an increasing number of viruses that cause common ailments like measles. It also had important implications for cancer because it allowed scientists to study its relationship to viruses. In 1948, when [Frederick Robbins] joined [John Enders]'s laboratory at Children's Hospital in Boston, there was no convenient way for scientists to work with viruses in the laboratory. The vast majority of such research at that time had to be conducted on eggs, mice, monkeys and other animals. The three scientists focused on polio, then one of the most feared diseases, and though the group's work involved basic research it had a practical aim. Robbins's team wanted to grow polio and other viruses in the laboratory so they could make vaccines

After the war, Dr. Robbins finished his training in pediatrics and joined the [John F. Enders] laboratory in 1948. Dr. [Thomas H. Weller], who was a roommate with Dr. Robbins in medical school, recalled in an interview yesterday that Dr. Robbins signed on because he ''was turned on by my enthusiastic accounts of working with Dr. Enders.'' (Dr. Enders died in 1985.) From 1980 to 1985, Dr. Robbins was president of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, where he was credited with creating a solid foundation for programs contributing to national policy on vaccine development, vaccine safety and work force issues, said Dr. Enriqueta Bond, who worked with Dr. Robbins at the institute. Dr. Robbins met his wife, the former Alice Havemeyer Northrop, when she was working as Dr. Weller's laboratory technician. She was the daughter of Dr. John H. Northrop of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in Princeton, N.J., who shared a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on preparing virus proteins in pure form. But his father-in-law's work had no influence on Dr. Robbins's decision to work in virology, Mrs. Robbins said

Scientists have sought a species that is susceptible to deliberately induced SARS so the animals can be used to test experimental drugs and vaccines for SARS. Dr. [Klaus Stohr] said scientists at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Institute of Laboratory Animal Science in Beijing told him that they had developed macaque monkeys for the SARS animal models. The new infected cell finding also supports the theory that the SARS virus prompts substances known as cytokines, like interferon and tumor necrosis factor, to produce an immunologic reaction that can damage the lungs and other organs. Pneumonia is one of the potentially fatal manifestations of SARS, and many doctors have speculated that SARS pneumonia results from an immunologic reaction, not a direct attack by the SARS virus. A better understanding of what causes organ damage in SARS may come from a laboratory in Beijing that has been specially designed to prevent the spread of the SARS virus when pathologists perform autopsies among those who died from the disease. Many pathologists elsewhere have been reluctant to perform autopsies on SARS patients because of the risk of acquiring the infection or spreading it to others. So far, pathologists have completed autopsies of 6 of 18 SARS patients, Dr. Stohr said

China's crash research program into SARS has yielded important new clues. But little of that information has been widely shared, dismaying World Health Organization officials, who worry that opportunities to prevent a possible return of the disease in the fall could be missed. In May, the Chinese government put SARS research on a fast track and invested millions of dollars in 95 projects. The scientist who played a crucial role in the WHO investigation of SARS, Dr. Klaus Stohr, just spent three weeks in China to review with the Chinese researchers what they have accomplished so far. While much of the Chinese research is first- rate, Stohr said, many groups are working on SARS but do not know what the others are doing except by reading Chinese newspaper accounts, and many accounts do not provide the necessary scientific information. China had more than 3,000 cases of SARS, the most reported anywhere, and was probably the point of origin for the epidemic. Given that experience, China could yield significant research for its own public health officials and for the rest of the world. A most puzzling aspect of the epidemic is the low rate of infection among health workers who cared for SARS patients in China, Stohr said. That is in contrast with higher rates in Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto and other areas. In the population at large, detecting SARS in the earliest stages is a top priority among researchers. Chinese scientists told Stohr they had developed a promising lead for an early test. He said they could detect the virus in a type of white blood cell known as the T-lymphocyte, the second type of white blood cell in which scientists have detected the SARS virus. The new infected cell finding also supports the theory that the SARS virus prompts substances known as cytokines, like interferon and tumor necrosis factor, to produce an immunologic reaction that can damage the lungs and other organs. Pneumonia is one of the potentially fatal manifestations of SARS, and many doctors have speculated that SARS pneumonia results from an immunologic reaction, not a direct attack by the SARS virus

In May, the Chinese government put SARS research on a fast track and invested millions of dollars in 95 projects. The scientist who played a crucial role in the WHO's investigation of SARS, Dr. Klaus Stoehr, just spent three weeks in China, reviewing with the researchers what they have accomplished so far. Some new findings strengthen a possible link between SARS and exposure to exotic animals like the civet cats that are considered a delicacy in parts of China. After scientists detected the SARS virus in civet cats in the spring, officials banned the sale of such wild and domesticated animals in food markets. A most puzzling aspect of the epidemic is the low rate of infection among health workers who cared for SARS patients in China, Stoehr said. That is in contrast to higher rates in Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto and other areas. Further exploration of that difference could help lower the risk of infection to health workers if SARS resurfaces

Two countries, Oman and Vietnam, have destroyed all of the known stocks of the virus in their countries. Some laboratories in seven other countries Albania, Bahrain, Cambodia, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand and Singapore have destroyed their stocks, even though the World Health Organization has not required that step. Some laboratories in Hong Kong have done the same. Even if the organization succeeds in stopping the transmission of polio, countries are expected to continue polio immunization to protect against stocks of the virus that may be lurking undetected. Since polio virus is needed to manufacture the vaccine, a number of countries will need to maintain stocks of the virus, [David Heymann] said in an interview. The World Health Organization is encouraging laboratories to destroy stocks of polio virus unless the researchers are conducting top-priority scientific projects or have a scientific reason for keeping the virus. Also, to help prevent accidental infection or escape of the virus, the agency is encouraging scientists to work with polio only in laboratories that are rated as P-3, the second strictest level of biological security. Bruce Aylward, another polio expert at the organization, said that obtaining reliable inventories is proving to be a big logistical challenge but very definitely a manageable one

The risk that the polio virus could get loose is one reason why the WHO has asked countries to conduct inventories to determine which of their laboratories have kept the polio virus in freezers. So far 80 countries have provided such lists. Even if the WHO stops transmission of polio, many countries are expected to continue polio immunizations until they are confident that the virus is not lurking undetected. Because polio virus is needed to manufacture the vaccine, a number of countries will need to maintain stocks of polio virus, [David L. Heymann] said in an interview

Preparing for the end of polio, the World Health Organization is focusing on learning where stocks of the virus exist and encouraging laboratories to tighten controls to prevent accidental release of the virus, officials said here yesterday. The risk of polio virus getting loose is one reason WHO has asked countries to conduct inventories to determine which of their laboratories have kept polio virus in freezers. So far 80 countries have provided such lists. Even if WHO stops transmission of polio, many countries are expected to continue polio immunizations for some time until they are confident that the virus is not lurking undetected somewhere and for other reasons. Because polio virus is needed to manufacture the vaccine, a number of countries will need to maintain stocks of polio virus, [David L. Heymann] said in an interview

Even if the WHO stops transmission of polio, many countries are expected to continue polio immunizations until they are confident the virus is not lurking undetected. Because polio virus is needed to manufacture the vaccine, a number of countries will need to maintain stocks of polio virus, [David L. Heymann] said

As long as a single case exists, the crippling disease can spread within a country and be exported, said Dr. David L. Heymann, the epidemiologist appointed by Dr. [Jong Wook Lee] to eradicate polio. Dr. Heymann led the W.H.O. team that fought the epidemic of SARS last spring. The risk that the polio virus could get loose is one reason why the organization has asked countries to conduct inventories to determine which of their laboratories have kept polio virus in freezers. So far 80 countries have provided such lists. Even if the agency stops transmission of polio, many countries are expected to continue polio immunizations until they are confident that the virus is not lurking undetected. Because polio virus is needed to manufacture the vaccine, some countries will need to maintain stocks of it, Dr. Heymann said in an interview