Thursday 15 March 2007
Former Director of The Institute, Professor Robin Weiss, has been named the winner of this year’s annual Ernst Chain Prize.
The prestigious prize is awarded by Imperial College London to a career scientist who has made an original and substantive contribution in any field of science which has furthered, or is likely to further, understanding or management of human disease.
Professor Weiss received this honour for his research which pioneered our understanding of HIV and AIDS, particularly the identification of CD4 as the HIV receptor and the analysis of neutralizing antibodies to the virus.
He also conducted notable research on AIDS-associated malignancies, on pig viruses in relation to xenotransplanation and on emerging virus infections such as SARS.
Much of the Professor’s groundbreaking work took place while he was at The Institute of Cancer Research. He was Director of The Institute from 1980 – 1989 and subsequently became Director of Research.
Professor Peter Rigby, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research said, “We are delighted that Professor Weiss’s work has been honoured in such a way. His scientific research has been instrumental in furthering our understanding of AIDS as well as cancers that are associated with this disease and we are proud that much of this work took place at The Institute.”
The Award was established in honour of Sir Ernst Chain who was jointly awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases.
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