Flossie Wong-Staal
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Flossie Wong-Staal (née Wong Yee Ching, ; August 27, 1946July 8, 2020) was a Chinese-American
virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, thei ...
and
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 ...
. She was the first scientist to clone
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 ...
and determine the function of its genes, which was a major step in proving that HIV is the cause of AIDS. From 1990 to 2002, she held the Florence Riford Chair in AIDS Research at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
(UCSD). She was co-founder and, after retiring from UCSD, she became the chief scientific officer of Immusol, which was renamed Pharmaceuticals in 2007 when it transitioned to a drug development company focused on hepatitis C and continued as chief scientific officer.


Early life

Wong-Staal was born as Wong Yee Ching in
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
, China, in 1946. The third child in her family of four, she grew up with two brothers and a sister. In 1952, her family was among the many Chinese citizens who fled to
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
after the
Communist revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution often, but not necessarily, inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, socialism can be used as an intermediate stag ...
in the late 1940s. During her time in Hong Kong, Wong attended
Maryknoll Convent School Maryknoll Convent School (MCS, ) is a Roman Catholic girls' school with primary and secondary sections at Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded by the American Maryknoll Sisters in Hong Kong in 1925 at Kowloon Tsai, Hong Kong. MCS is a pre ...
, where she excelled in science. Although no women in her family had ever worked outside the home or studied science, her parents supported her academic pursuits. Throughout her time at the school she was encouraged by many of her teachers to further her studies in the United States. Her teachers also suggested she change her name to something in English. Her father chose the name "Flossie" for her after a massive
typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
that had struck Southeast Asia around this time.


Education

When she was 18, she left Hong Kong to attend the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
, where she pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in bacteriology. She was graduated cum laude in just three years. After earning her bachelor's degree, she went on to earn a Ph.D. in
molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...
from UCLA in 1972. She conducted her
postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...
work at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
, where she continued to research.


HIV cloning

Her postdoctoral work continued until 1973, when she moved to
Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...
, to work for
Robert Gallo Robert Charles Gallo (; born March 23, 1937) is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in establishing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the infectious agent responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome ...
at the
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
(NCI). At the institute, Wong-Staal began her research into retroviruses. Two years later, Wong-Staal became the first researcher to clone HIV. She also completed
genetic mapping Genetic linkage is the tendency of DNA sequences that are close together on a chromosome to be inherited together during the meiosis phase of sexual reproduction. Two genetic markers that are physically near to each other are unlikely to be separ ...
of the virus which made it possible to develop HIV tests. This led to the first genetic map of the virus, which aided in the development of blood tests for HIV.


Research

In the late 1970s, Wong-Staal's team, alongside Dr. Gallo, conducted research on the human retrovirus, human T cell leukemia virus (
HTLV The human T-lymphotropic virus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus, or human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus (HTLV) family of viruses are a group of human retroviruses that are known to cause a type of cancer called adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma an ...
), and determined that it was the causative agent in human adult T cell leukemia. Her team specifically studied the molecular virology of HTLV-1 by examining its transcriptional activators and posttranslational regulators. This discovery was significant in the study of human retroviruses as there was prior debate as to whether retroviruses could cause human disease. In 1990, Wong-Staal was recruited from NCI to the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
(UCSD), where she started the Center for AIDS Research. Wong-Staal continued her research into HIV/AIDS at UCSD. Wong-Staal's research focused on
gene therapy Gene therapy is a medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying human DN ...
, using a
ribozyme Ribozymes (ribonucleic acid enzymes) are RNA molecules that have the ability to catalyze specific biochemical reactions, including RNA splicing in gene expression, similar to the action of protein enzymes. The 1982 discovery of ribozymes demons ...
"molecular knife" to repress HIV in
stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of ...
. The protocol she developed was the second to be funded by the United States government. In 1990 a team of researchers led by Wong-Staal studied the effects that the Tat protein within the viral strain HIV-1 would have on the growth of cells found within
Kaposi's sarcoma Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a type of cancer that can form masses in the skin, in lymph nodes, in the mouth, or in other organs. The skin lesions are usually painless, purple and may be flat or raised. Lesions can occur singly, multiply in a limit ...
lesions commonly found in AIDS patients. The team of researchers performed tests on a variety of cells that carried the Tat protein and observed the rate of cell proliferation in cells infected by HIV-1 and the control, a culture of healthy human
endothelial cells The endothelium is a single layer of squamous endothelial cells that line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. The endothelium forms an interface between circulating blood or lymph in the lumen and the rest of the vessel ...
. Wong-Staal used a type of cellular analysis known as radioimmunoprecipitation in order to detect the presence of KS lesions in cells with varying amounts of the Tat protein. The results of these tests showed that the amount of Tat protein within a cell infected by HIV-1 is directly correlated to the amount of KS lesions a patient may have. These findings were essential in developing new treatments for HIV/AIDS patients who suffer from these dangerous lesions.


Achievements

In 1994, Wong-Staal was named as chairman of UCSD's newly created Center for AIDS Research. In that same year, Wong-Staal was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academies. In 2002, Wong-Staal retired from UCSD and accepted the title of professor emerita. She then joined Immusol, a
biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...
company that she co-founded with her second husband, Jeffrey McKelvy, while she was at UCSD, as chief scientific officer. Recognizing the need for improved drugs for hepatitis C (HCV), she transitioned Immusol to an HCV therapeutics focus and renamed it Pharmaceuticals. That same year, ''
Discover Discover may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album * ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine Businesses and brands * DISCover, the ''Digital Interactive Systems Corporation'' * D ...
'' named Wong-Staal one of the fifty "most extraordinary women scientists". Wong-Staal remained as a research professor of medicine at UCSD until her death on July 8, 2020. In 2007, ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' heralded Wong-Staal as #32 of the "Top 100 Living Geniuses". For her contributions to science, the Institute for Scientific Information named Wong-Staal "the top woman scientist of the 1980s". In 2019, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.National Women's Hall of Fame, Flossie Wong-Staal
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Personal life

In 1971, while doing her PhD at the UCLA, she married a fellow student, oncologist Stephen P. Staal. The couple had two daughters (Stephanie and Caroline Vega), before divorcing around 1990. Wong-Staal later re-married to neurologist Jeffrey McKelvy, with whom she founded Immusol. She had four grandchildren. Wong-Staal died on July 8, 2020 at the age of 73, at
Jacobs Medical Center Jacobs Medical Center is a teaching hospital on the University of California, San Diego campus in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. Along with the UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest, it serves as a flagship hospital of UC San Diego Heal ...
in La Jolla, due to complications caused by pneumonia.


See also

*
Timeline of women in science This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women f ...


References


Citations


General sources

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External links


Flossie Wong-Staal Oral History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong-Staal, Flossie 1947 births 2020 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in California American people of Chinese descent American virologists American women biologists People from Guangzhou Biologists from Guangdong Chinese Civil War refugees Chinese emigrants to the United States Chinese women biologists Educators from Guangdong People from Bethesda, Maryland Hong Kong people University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, San Diego faculty 20th-century American biologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American biologists 21st-century American women scientists Members of the National Academy of Medicine