David Baltimore

thumb|David Baltimore (2013) David Baltimore (March 7, 1938 – September 6, 2025) was an American molecular biologist, 1975 Nobel prize winner, and professor at Caltech. He is famous for the discovery of reverse transcriptase (which changed the scientific view of cancer), contributions to the identification of HIV, and the Baltimore classification. Quotes Two independent groups of investigators have found evidence of an enzyme in virions of RNA tumour viruses which synthesizes DNA from an RNA template. This discovery, if upheld, will have important implications not only for carcinogenesis by RNA viruses but also for the general understanding of genetic transcription: apparently the classical process of information transfer from DNA to RNA can be inverted. 10.1038/2261209a0 Viral RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase: RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase in Virions of RNA Tumour Viruses 1970 Nature 226 5252 1209–1211 4316300 1970Natur.226.1209B 4222378 The world of animal viruses appears to offer an unfathomable diversity of specimens, but, as the molecular biology of the replication of many viruses has been studied, a pattern of behavior has emerged. The viruses can be divided into classes, each of which has its own method of transmitting its genetic information from one generation to the next and its own style of expressing its genetic information. Although in some cases the data are still fragmentary, it is possible to outline the behavior of these systems and to place them in a formal scheme. 378387 1971 Expression of animal virus genomes Bacteriological Reviews 35 3 235–241 10.1128/MMBR.35.3.235-241.1971 4329869 (quote from p. 235) This milestone of biology's megaproject is the long-promised draft DNA sequence from the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (the public project). The sequence itself is available to all those connected to the Internet … In the paper in this issue, we are presented with a description of the strategy used to decipher the structures of the huge DNA molecules that constitute the genome, and with analyses of the content encoded in the genome. It is the achievement of a coordinated effort involving 20 laboratories and hundreds of people around the world. It reflects the scientific community at its best: working collaboratively, pooling its resources and skills, keeping its focus on the goal, and making its results available to all as they were acquired. 10.1038/35057267 Our genome unveiled 2001 Nature 409 6822 815–816 11236992 2001Natur.409..814B 4429138 As long as I have been in science, which is let's say 1960 to today, just about every five years there are major changes in technology that allow you to do things that you previously either said were just too hard or there was no way to do them — or which you hadn't imagined that you could ever do. Interview with David Baltimore, PhD, Vol 1, Ch. 7: Principles of Virology, 4th Edition (interview by Vincent Racaniello) August 3, 2016 American Society for Microbiology YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK6B5qLHCAw (quote at 25:28 of 35:31 in video) Quotes about Baltimore The prominence of Watson and Crick and the Phage Group made Baltimore all the more desperate to do some real experimental biology. During the spring of his junior year, Baltimore became president of the Biology Club and enrolled in a microbiology seminar that discussed the advances of Luria, Delbrück, Lederberg, and others. But he was sick of just talking about biology. He had understood very quickly that designing and completing experiments were the accomplishments that make a biologist; gathering an encyclopedia knowledge of facts simply makes a good student. Shane Crotty: https://books.google.com/books?id=NjeJhUa8xJIC&pg=PA27 Ahead of the Curve: David Baltimore's Life in Science 9780520225572 27 2001 Viral genomes must make mRNA that can be read by host ribosomes ... David Baltimore (Nobel laureate) used this insight to describe a simple way to think about virus genomes ... The original Baltimore scheme missed one genome type: the gapped DNA of the Hepadnaviridae ... Vincent Racaniello: The Baltimore scheme YouTube December 9, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzk_IbbHcXM (quote at 3:51 of 17:22 in video, from course given at Columbia University) External links Category:1938 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Academics from the United States Category:Biologists from the United States Category:Virologists from the United States Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Category:Nobel laureates from the United States Category:Jews from the United States Category:Scientists from New York City Category:National Medal of Science laureates Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Category:California Institute of Technology faculty