William French Anderson

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William French Anderson (born December 31, 1936 in Tulsa , Oklahoma ) is an American doctor , genetic engineer and molecular biologist . He is considered a pioneer in gene therapy .

Anderson studied at Harvard University (bachelor's degree in 1958, initially with a focus on classical philology ) and at Harvard Medical School (degree in 1963). He then carried out research at the National Institutes of Health on methods for gene therapy with mice as experimental animals (1979).

In 1984 Richard Charles Mulligan published a method to use engineered retroviruses as carriers to specifically change the genetic make-up of cell tissue. As a doctor, Anderson was the first to use this in humans, first in an experimental application in 1989 on a 53-year-old patient and then in 1990 as a therapeutic application on a four-year-old girl with SCID .

Since 1992 he has been Professor of Biochemistry and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and Director of the Gene Therapy Laboratory at the Keck School of Medicine there.

Anderson's career was ruined when he was arrested in 2004 for sexually abusing a minor (the daughter of a colleague he was teaching Tae Kwon Do , who was 10 to 15 years old at the time of the 1997-2001 crime ) and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2007. He lost his job at the university and was banned from entering the university.

He was the founder and editor of the journal Human Gene Therapy . In 1994 he received the König Faisal Prize for Medicine.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b www.jonesday.com: Jones Day Lawyers Successfully Defend a Child Molestation Victim , July 2006, online here ; last accessed on 19 Feb 2009.
  2. ^ A b William French Anderson: World-Renowned Scientist Sentenced for Molesting Girl ( Memento June 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b The Sunday Times Online: Father of gene therapy 'jailed for child abuse , Feb. 4, 2007, online here ; last accessed on 19 Feb 2009.
  4. ↑ guardian.co.uk: The gene geniuses , June 26, 2000, online here ; last accessed on 19 Feb 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Anderson, William French
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doctor, genetic engineer, and molecular biologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Tulsa , Oklahoma