Baltimore, David (1938- )

Baltimore, David (1938- )

American microbiologist

At the age of 37, David Baltimore was awarded the 1975 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his groundbreaking work on retrovirus replication. Baltimore pioneered work on the molecular biology of animal viruses , especially poliovirus, and his investigations of how viruses interact with cells led, in 1970, to the discovery of a novel enzyme, reverse transcriptase. This enzyme transcribes RNA to DNA and permits a unique family of viruses, the retroviruses , to code for viral proteins. Baltimore shared the Nobel Prize with virologist Renato Dulbecco and oncologist Howard Temin, who independently discovered the same enzyme. Baltimore's achievement had profound implications for the scientific community because it challenged the central dogma of molecular biology, which stated that the flow of genetic information was unidirectional, running from DNA to RNA to proteins. His work also contributed to the understanding of certain diseases such as AIDS , now known to be caused by the retrovirus HIV .

David Baltimore was born in New York City to Richard Baltimore and Gertrude Lipschitz. Baltimore was a gifted science student while still in high school; he attended a prestigious summer program at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, in which he studied mammalian genetics. It was during this program that he met his future colleague, Howard Temin, and decided to pursue a career in scientific research. As an undergraduate Baltimore attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and graduated in 1960 with high honors in chemistry. He started graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but he transferred after one year to the Rockefeller Institute, now the Rockefeller University, in New York. There he studied with Richard M. Franklin, a molecular biophysicist specializing in RNA viruses. Baltimore earned his Ph.D. in 1964 and then completed three years postdoctoral research at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. There he met Renato Dulbecco, who developed innovative techniques for examining animal viruses, and Alice Shih Huang , who later became his wife. Huang was Baltimore's postdoctoral student at Salk, collaborated in some of his viral research, and later became a full professor at the Harvard Medical School. In 1968 Baltimore joined the MIT faculty, became full professor in 1972, and in 1973 was awarded a lifetime research professorship by the American Cancer Society. After winning the Nobel Prize in 1975 Baltimore continued to be honored for his work. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974.

In the mid-1970s Baltimore turned to research in molecular immunology , establishing a major presence in that rapidly developing field. As a prominent figure in the scientific community, Baltimore became outspoken about the potential risks of genetic engineering. He was concerned that the rapidly developing techniques of molecular biology might be misused. In 1975 Baltimore initiated a conference in which scientists attempted to design a self-regulatory system regarding experiments with recombinant DNA. In the following year the National Institutes of Health established a committee to oversee federally funded experiments in the field of genetic engineering. Baltimore became a key link between basic molecular biology and the burgeoning biotechnology industry. In 1984 he was appointed founding director of the new Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, which is affiliated with MIT; he remained at this post until 1990. In that position Baltimore made significant advances in the field of immunology and synthetic vaccine research. He earned wide admiration for forging dynamically amicable relations between the two institutions, developing a high-powered young faculty and molding the Whitehead into one of the world's leading institutions of its kind. Baltimore was a major influence in shaping the Human Genome Project and is an outspoken advocate of greater national investment in AIDS research.

In July 1990 Baltimore became president of Rockefeller University, launching an energetic program of fiscal and structural reform to bring the university's finances under control and to provide greater encouragement for junior faculty members. He resigned from the presidency at the end of 1991. At the time he was caught up in a controversy that stemmed from his support of a collaborator who had been charged with scientific misconduct, but whose scientific honesty he had resolutely defended. Several years later the collaborator was found to be innocent of all the charges raised against her. Baltimore remained on the faculty of Rockefeller University until 1994, when he returned to MIT as the Ivan R. Cottrell Professor of Molecular Biology and Immunology, and then Institute Professor.

During his career, David Baltimore has served on numerous governmental advisory committees. Apart from being a member of the National Academy of Sciences, he is also affiliated with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society of London. At the end of 1996 he was appointed head of the newly created AIDS Vaccine Research Committee of the National Institutes of Health, a group that supports all efforts to accelerate the discovery of a vaccine against AIDS.

See also AIDS, recent advances in research and treatment; Immunogenetics; Viral genetics; Viral vectors in gene therapy; Viruses and responses to viral infection