Emerging Viruses-Aids & Ebola - By Leanard ... - preterhuman.net

publishing its "Current Research Projects" column that hadappeared almost monthly until 1969. Had the military contractorshushed the WHO Chronicle up? Had the CIA - thecounterintelligence arm of the Defense Department - protestedthe practice of giving CBW secrets away?"I can't sleep," I said to Jackie who was dozing soundly."I'm getting up to read."Gallo Sounded Dreadful in ʺThe BandʺDriven to satisfy my wakeful curiosity Gallo, I walked to the den,flicked on the reading lamp, and thumbed to the index of 'AndThe Band Played On.' I then settled back into the recliner andbegan to read the sections Shilts had written about him.Robert Gallo, I immediately learned, was the son of a hardworkingpresident of a Connecticut metal company. His mother,Shilts simply described as charismatic, extroverted, and clannish.[3]In 1949, at the age of thirteen, young Robert suffered a "turningpoint" in his life. His younger sister struggled unsuccessfully tofight leukemia. While she was at the hospital, Gallo met thefamous Harvard University cancer expert, Sydney Faber, andother researchers who worked to save his sister from death. Thisexperience sparked Gallo's desire to become a research biologist.[3]An uncle who taught zoology at the University of Connecticutencouraged young Robert to study at a local Catholic hospitalwith a grossly cynical research pathologist. Here, as a teen, Galloperformed numerous autopsies. [3]Later, above his mother's garage, while attending ProvidenceCollege, he slew scores of mice and studied diligently. [3]He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1963 and thenwent on to a two-year postdoctoral residency program at theUniversity of Chicago. Next he became a clinical associate in theMedical Branch of the NIH's National Cancer Institute. Here,assigned to work in the children's leukemia ward at the NIHHospital, he swore he would "never work with patients again."[3]Later he was appointed to head the NCI's Cellular ControlMechanisms Section of the Human Tumor Cell Biology Branch,and then in 1972, he became the Chief of Lab Tumor CellBiology at the NCI.From 1966 to 1970 Gallo earned fame investigating the theorythat viruses played a role in leukemia and other forms of cancer.His efforts examined the role of retroviruses and focused on theunique enzyme reverse transcriptase - the chemical thatretroviruses used to reproduce themselves in victim cells.Identifying reverse transcriptase aided scientists in detectingretrovirus infections, and represented a significant advance. Yet,few scientists appeared particularly impressed by Gallo's work.