Ernst Chain prize awarded to leading HIV researcher

Professor Robin Weiss awarded annual GBP 10,000 prize - News

By Laura Gallagher
Monday 19 March 2007

A researcher whose work made a significant impact on HIV research has been awarded the 2007 Ernst Chain prize.

Professor Robin Weiss, Director of the Wohl Virus Research Centre at University College London, was awarded the prize at Imperial College London on Tuesday 13 March.

The GBP 10,000 award is made in honour of Sir Ernst Chain, who won the Nobel Prize in 1945 for contributions to the discovery and development of penicillin and who had a longstanding association with Imperial.

Professor Weiss was awarded the prize because of his leading work in retrovirology, which involves using classical virus genetics, and modern techniques in molecular virology and immunology, to study endogenous viruses and HIV. In 1984 his group identified CD4 as the primary receptor for HIV, a landmark finding that set the scene for all further work on HIV.

The Ernst Chain prize is presented on an annual basis to a career scientist who has made an original and substantive contribution in any field of science which has furthered understanding or management of human disease. This year's prize was aimed at those working in the field of infection.

Professor Weiss began his lecture by talking about his personal connection with Sir Ernst. He said: "It's a tremendous honour to be here. I did come here once to meet Sir Ernst Chain. I think it was about 1973, the time he retired … In the past eight years that I’ve been back at UCL it's been an enormous pleasure that Benny Chain, one of his sons, is one of my colleagues."

In his lecture, Professor Weiss discussed developments in HIV and how HIV interacts with cell surface receptors; why HIV is difficult to neutralise with antibodies; and receptor genetics and pathogenesis. "The scientific study of HIV as a virus has paid off in some public health dividends," he added.

The Ernst Chain prize was established in collaboration with Ralph Kohn, through the Kohn Foundation. Ralph Kohn was a personal friend of Sir Ernst and he undertook his postdoctoral studies with him in Rome and later in the United States.

Watch the Ernst Chain Lecture 2007 (Real Player)

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