Jesse Summers

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Jesse Summers (* 1941 in Houston , Texas ) is an American virologist and professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico . He researched a group of DNA viruses that typically attack the liver and coined their name as Hepadnaviridae .

Summers earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Rice University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1968. in microbiology with a thesis on biotin deficiency and glutamate metabolism in microorganisms. As a postdoctoral fellow he worked with the later Nobel Prize winner Renato Dulbecco at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies . From 1971, Summers headed a research group at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia , where he was scientific director from 1983 to 1987. In 1988 he went to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque , where he initially received a professorship in cell biology . Most recently he was Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology there. In 1997/98 he spent a sabbatical with Francis V. Chisari at the Scripps Research Institute .

Jesse Summers was instrumental in research into the infection, spread, replication, pathogenesis and elimination of the Hepadnaviridae, a group of viruses to which the hepatitis B virus (HBV) belongs. He established infections with the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) and the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) as animal models for human hepatitis B . Summers researched the dynamic changes in cells during chronic infection and elimination of the virus, but also the development of infected organs into hepatocellular carcinoma .

In 1987, Summers and R. Palmer Beasley received the Charles S. Mott Prize for their work on linking infections with the hepatitis B virus and hepatocellular carcinoma, in the same year Summers received the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society . In 2001 Summers was elected to the National Academy of Sciences , in 2003 he received the Prince Hitachi Prize for Comparative Oncology .

Jesse Summers is married for a second time. There are two children from the first marriage.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Molecular Genetics & Microbiology Affiliated Faculty - The University of New Mexico. In: mgm.unm.edu. June 26, 2018, accessed August 12, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Wolfram H. Gerlich: Medical Virology of Hepatitis B: how it began and where we are now. In: Virology Journal. 10, 2013, p. 239, doi : 10.1186 / 1743-422X-10-239 .
  3. ^ Charles S. Mott Prize (1979–1989) ( Memento of March 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Jesse Summers. In: nasonline.org. Retrieved August 12, 2018 .
  5. ^ The Prince Hitachi Prize for Comparative Oncology - 2003 Awardee. In: jfcr.or.jp. Retrieved August 12, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Summers, Jesse
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American virologist
DATE OF BIRTH 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Houston , Texas