Renato Dulbecco (1914–2012) Molecular Biologist Who Proved That Virus-Derived Genes Can Trigger Cancer

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COMMENT OBITUARY Renato Dulbecco (1914–2012) Molecular biologist who proved that virus-derived genes can trigger cancer.

enato Dulbecco, a giant of cancer — the viruses of bacteria. Dulbecco shared fame. He and Vogt continued their research biology, passed away peacefully on his laboratory with a graduate student, collaborations on tumour viruses, defini- 19 February, just three days shy of his James Watson, who was later to determine tively proving the essential role of the viral R98th birthday. Through a decade-long series the structure of DNA with Francis Crick. genes in transforming cells into cancer cells. of experiments that began in the late 1950s Dulbecco’s finding that visible light can During this highly productive period, Dul- — first at the California Institute of Tech- reactivate phages previously rendered inac- becco trained some of the top virologists in nology (Caltech) in Pasadena and then at tive by exposure to ultraviolet light — with the world. In 1972, he moved to the Impe- the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California — he repercussions for experimental methods rial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer and his co-workers demon- Research UK) in London, strated that the behaviour of where he initiated studies cancer cells could be traced of breast cancer — a subject directly to acquired genes. he continued to pursue after SALK INST. Some viruses can integrate moving back to California in their genomes into host cell 1977. His last scientific paper, DNA, inducing uncontrolled published in 2004, identified cell growth — the hallmark tumour-initiating cells in rat of a cancer cell. For these mammary cancers. In 1988, early clues to the genetic Dulbecco assumed the presi- origins of cancer, Dulbecco dency of the Salk Institute, shared the 1975 Nobel prize following the illness of long- with the late Howard Temin, term president Frederic de his former student, and with Hoffmann, and brought sta- David Baltimore, my former bility during a difficult time. mentor. An experimentalist at Born in Catanzaro, Italy, on heart, Dulbecco loved to 22 February 1914, Dulbecco work in the laboratory. He grew up during the First was a quiet man, yet did not World War and its aftermath shy away from making bold with his mother and siblings. visionary statements: in a He entered the University of classic 1986 perspective in Turin in 1930 at the age of 16 Science (R. Dulbecco Science to study medicine. His inter- 231, 1055–1056; 1986), he ests quickly shifted to biology argued that the best way to and he became a laboratory understand cancer would be assistant for Giuseppe Levi, learning from at the time — brought him to wider atten- to sequence the human cancer genome. In him the cell-culture techniques that had a tion. Phage geneticist Max Delbrück invited 1992, Dulbecco stepped down from the Salk dominant role in Dulbecco’s later scientific Dulbecco to join him at Caltech in 1949 as a presidency to organize the Italian contribu- work. His fellow students included two research fellow. tion to the Human Genome Project. He spent other future Nobel laureates — microbiolo- Dulbecco felt that research into animal a good part of his time in Italy, where he was gist Salvador Luria and neurobiologist Rita viruses would benefit hugely from improved much revered and helped the careers of many Levi-Montalcini. quantitative techniques. In 1952, he devel- young scientists. After obtaining his doctorate in 1936, oped the plaque assay for Western equine Dulbecco was an elegant man: a dapper Dulbecco was drafted into the Italian army encephalomyelitis virus: a system that dresser, soft spoken, with an ever-present as a physician. He was called to action in allowed researchers to determine the num- smile. He was comfortable among the nobil- 1939, at the outset of the Second World War, ber of biologically active viral particles in a ity, yet adept at changing the oil in his car; to serve first in France and then in Russia. sample by counting the number of discrete at once distant yet approachable. He was a Disaffected by the war and its consequences, plaques, or clear spots, where a single virus charming host at dinners organized by his he deserted the army and hid in a small vil- and its progeny had killed host cells. Soon wife Maureen, which my wife and I often had lage near Turin, becoming physician to the Dulbecco was joined by Marguerite Vogt, the pleasure of attending. In short, he was local partisan units resisting the German a German émigré. Their fruitful collabora- always the perfect gentleman. ■ occupation. After the end of the war, follow- tions led to quantitative assays for the polio- ing a short stint as an elected city councillor myelitis virus, a scourge at the time, and later Inder M. Verma is the Irwin and Joan in Turin in 1945, he returned to scientific for the polyoma virus — a DNA virus that Jacobs Chair in Exemplary Life Science and research at the University of Turin. causes many different types of tumours. an American Cancer Society professor of In 1946, Luria invited Dulbecco to join his In 1963, Dulbecco left Caltech to become molecular biology at the Salk Institute, research group at the University of Indiana one of the first fellows of the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. in Bloomington to work on bacteriophages founded by Jonas Salk of polio vaccine e-mail: [email protected]