Scientist Profiles - Charles Weissmann

Charles Weissmann, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman
Department of Infectology 

Charles Weissmann is a world-renowned pioneer in biomedical research and molecular biology.  In 2004, he was the first scientist appointed to Scripps Florida’s faculty and is the founding chairman of the Department of Infectology.
 
Professor Weissmann has contributed significantly to a number of scientific areas. He has advanced our understanding of RNA virus replication; developed site-directed mutagenesis and reverse genetics; discovered quasispecies in viral populations; cloned the human interferon alpha genes and produced recombinant interferon in E.coli; and cloned the prion gene and demonstrated that its knockout in mice abrogated prion replication and conferred protection from prion disease.  He was the first to synthesize interferon using a new cloning approach that led the way to large-scale production of human alpha interferon, today an important therapeutic agent for hepatitis C.  His ground-breaking work on prions has been fundamental to research that made it possible to breed cattle to be resistant to mad cow disease.
 
He obtained his M.D. (1956) and Ph.D. degrees (1961) at the University of Zürich.  After seven years at the NYU School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow, Assistant and then Associate Professor, he became Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Zürich in 1967.  In 1999 he moved to the MRC Prion Unit, University College, London as Senior Scientist. 
 
Professor Weissmann has been internationally recognized for his work, including memberships in the Royal Society (United Kingdom) and National Academy of Science (USA). He has been awarded six honorary doctoral degrees and many leading scientific prizes. He was a cofounder of Biogen, the first European biotechnology company, and served on several corporate boards.