Famous Swiss molecular biologist Charles Weissmann died
Keystone-SDA
World-renowned molecular biologist Charles Weissmann has died. The death occurred on Thursday night at the age of 94, the University of Zurich told the Swiss news Agency Keystone-ATS.
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The university has thus confirmed information from the weekly Tachles.
Weissmann made fundamental discoveries in the field of molecular biology, which have also decisively influenced medicine.
He made headlines for the discovery of the so-called cloned interferon, a protein now used to treat hepatitis B and certain types of cancer.
He then studied prions, abnormal protein agents. Scientists first encountered these in the 1980s in connection with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the so-called mad cow disease. Stanley Prusiner – who received the Nobel Prize – suggested a connection between the two.
The first evidence for this was provided by Weissmann. He showed that it was a protein already present in the body that triggered the disease. Abnormal proteins are also responsible for ills such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Weissmann’s name was evoked many times when talking about Nobel prizes, but he was never given the honour.
Weissmann was born in 1931 in Budapest, and grew up between Zurich and Rio de Janeiro. At the University of Zurich, he established the Institute of Molecular Biology.
Adapted from Italian by AI/ts
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