Robert Anthony "Robin" Weiss (born 20 February 1940) is a British

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interact ...

, Professor of Viral Oncology at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and a member of the

Nuffield Council on Bioethics The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a UK-based independent charitable body, which examines and reports on bioethical issues raised by new advances in biological and medical research. Established in 1991, the Council is funded by the Nuffield Fo ...

Research

His research has focussed on retroviruses, initially as a means of understanding T-cell leukemia and other

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

s, which may be caused by retroviruses. A break-through discovery in 1971 was that the retroviral

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

in chickens follows the rules of

Mendelian inheritance Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularize ...

.Arlene Judith Klotzko.
Robin Weiss: Relentless retrovirus researcher
. '' The Scientist'' 2002, 16(21):60. Later his work moved on to

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

, also a retrovirus, and made several new important discoveries, most notably identifying CD4 on

lymphocyte A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell (leukocyte) in the immune system of most vertebrates. Lymphocytes include natural killer cells (which function in cell-mediated, cytotoxic innate immunity), T cells (for cell-mediated, cytotoxic ad ...

s as the binding receptor for HIV.

Career

Before becoming professor at UCL, Weiss was director at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, from 1980 until 1989, after which he continued as director of research for a further nine years. Until 2005, Weiss was editor-in-chief of the ''

British Journal of Cancer The ''British Journal of Cancer'' is a twice-monthly professional medical journal owned by Cancer Research UK (a registered charity in the United Kingdom), published on their behalf by Springer Nature's Nature Research. The ''British Journal of ...

''. His successor, A. L. Harris, states that Weiss showed "clear vision in developing the ''British Journal of Cancer'' into multidisciplinary journal with a focus on research that aims to deliver benefits to cancer patients."

Awards and recognition

In 1977, Weiss was elected a member of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

. He became a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1997, and in 1999 he became an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

. In November 2001, the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

awarded Weiss the M. W. Beijerinck Prize for Virology, noting especially his work on retroviruses. In the same year, he delivered the

Leeuwenhoek Lecture The Leeuwenhoek Lecture is a prize lecture of the Royal Society to recognize achievement in microbiology. The prize was originally given in 1950 and awarded annually, but from 2006 to 2018 was given triennially. From 2018 it will be awarded bienni ...

. In 2007,

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

awarded Weiss the Ernst Chain Prize, noting that he "has pioneered our understanding of HIV and AIDS, particularly on the identification of CD4 as the HIV receptor and on the analysis of neutralizing antibodies to the virus" Weiss was elected as Honorary Member of the Microbiology Society in 2009. He is a member of the

European Academy of Microbiology The European Academy of Microbiology, generally abbreviated as EAM, is a European institution made up of about 150 microbiology scientists, founded in 2009. The main objective of the Academy is to be the authoritative voice of microbiology in Europ ...

(EAM). He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Robin Living people 1940 births British molecular biologists British virologists Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of University College London Academics of the Institute of Cancer Research Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Members of the American Philosophical Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences