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| Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
Robert G. Webster, Ph.D., F.R.S., |
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 Topic: Robert G. Webster, Ph.D., F.R.S.,Posted: June 01 2006 at 3:07am |
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The MAN - who found flu pandemics come from birds.
“Dr. Webster’s contributions to understanding how influenza viruses evolve and create worldwide pandemics cannot be overstated,” said Richard Colonno, Ph.D., vice president, Infectious Diseases Drug Discovery, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. “His discoveries of how and where lethal viruses evolve have had profound effects on the search for methods of influenza virus control.” Born and raised in New Zealand, Dr. Webster received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Microbiology from Otago University. While working toward his Ph.D. at the Australian National University in Canberra, he made his first important contribution to influenza research. As a student in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Fazekas, Dr. Webster discovered Coomassie Brilliant Blue, the protein stain for quantitating proteins. After receiving his doctorate in 1962, he spent two years as a Fulbright Scholar investigating influenza with Dr. Tommy Francis in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While there, he and collaborator Stephen Fazekas established the immunological basis of the Francis Theory of Original Antigenic Sin that is still valid today. They found that after an initial infection, reinfection (or vaccination) with a new strain of the virus boosted the concentration of antibodies specific for the earlier infecting strain. While these antibodies cross-reacted with the new virus, they had higher affinity for the original infecting strain. In 1964, Dr. Webster returned to the Australian National University as a Research Fellow. The high levels of toxicity of early influenza vaccines prompted Dr. Webster and colleague Graeme Laver to develop the first subunit influenza vaccine in 1966. This vaccine formed the basis for the vaccine that is currently produced in Australia. Suggestions by Sir Christopher Andrews that influenza viruses in lower animals may be involved in the emergence of human pandemics led Dr. Webster to collaborate with Helio Pereira on studies of the antigenic relationship between influenza A viruses of human and avian origins. Their studies at the World Influenza Center, London, demonstrated the antigenic relationships between Asian/57 (H2N2) human influenza virus and avian influenza viruses, providing the first clues to support the concept that influenza viruses in lower animals may be involved in the emergence of human pandemics. Dr. Webster began his affiliation with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 1968. He hypothesized that the A/Hong Kong/68 (H3N2) virus did not arise by accumulation of mutations (antigenic drift) but by reassortment of genetic segments (antigenic shift) between human influenza viruses in humans and lower animals. Discovery of the natural reservoirs of influenza viruses in aquatic birds of the world, and the formal demonstration of reassortment and transmission of influenza virus under simulated natural conditions at the Plum Island Containment Laboratory in New York, confirmed how pandemics emerge. In 1997, Dr. Webster played an important part in elucidating the source of the H5N1 virus that spread from chickens to humans and killed six of 18 infected humans in Hong Kong. Recent studies on the molecular basis of virulence of these H5N1 viruses show that the NS1 gene enables the virus to escape control by cytokines such as interferon and Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α). In fact, virulence was associated with toxicity produced by over production of TNF-α and other cytokines and provides a possible mechanism for the virulence of the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic. Dr. Webster is currently investigating the structure and function of influenza virus proteins and the development of new vaccines and antivirals. He is also studying influenza viruses in wild birds, a major reservoir of influenza viruses. “The human population is most vulnerable to influenza viruses that have new antigenic properties,” says Dr. Webster. “It takes months to prepare an appropriate vaccine and we need to be creating strategic stockpiles of antiviral drugs for the period between detection of a pandemic strain and availability of a vaccine.”
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Posted: June 01 2006 at 3:41am |
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http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v9/n12/full/nm1203-1445.html;jsessionid=58CE23B97D4EB235CBC910918859E6D4
Profile: Robert WebsterApoorva MandavilliChicago
For decades, Webster has told this tale to scientists, politicians, regulatory agencies, the press and anyone else who will listen. Revered and ridiculed as he was for this obsession, he has now been vindicated: many experts agree it is just a matter of time before the world faces the next influenza pandemic. "He's an international treasure," says James Crowe, a microbiologist at Vanderbilt University. "He's one of the giants. He's not only a scientist, but a person who thinks carefully about worldwide health." Born and raised in New Zealand, Webster finished his Ph.D. in 1962 at the Australian National University in Canberra. He joined the faculty of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, on 1 January 1968, and has remained there ever since. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and director of the US Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization. He also has the distinction of publishing the first color image in Nature. Any one of Webster's accomplishments would satisfy someone less ambitious. As a graduate student, he discovered the Coomassie blue stain for quantitating proteins. Along with Stephen Fazekas, his graduate advisor, he established the theory of 'original antigenic sin'. He was a member of the team that discovered that detergents such as sodium dodecyl sulfate disrupt the flu virus, a finding that led to the first commercial flu 'subunit' vaccine. Perhaps his most valued contribution is the idea that wild birds are a reservoir of influenza viruses. "Why do some strains kill lots of people, and others are rather benign?" says Webster. "With robust genetics, we're starting to understand what's going on." When Webster first began working on influenza in the early 1960s, the idea that animals might harbor flu viruses had already been around for some time. But it was Webster and his colleagues who first suggested that pandemic strains of flu arise by a reassortment of genetic segments (antigenic shift) between viruses in humans and lower animals, and not by mutations (antigenic drift) in annual strains. Not surprisingly, there are several stories behind that discovery. It all began when Webster and long-time friend and collaborator Graeme Laver went sea fishing. One weekend, they were walking on the southeastern coast of Australia. On the beach lay dead 'mutton birds', large birds full of fish-oil that live in burrows and migrate all around the Pacific. "I don't know if it was me or [Laver] that said, 'Wouldn't it be funny if flu was killing these birds?'" Webster recalls. Despite widespread skepticism, they arranged a trip to a deserted coral island off the coast of Queensland. They swam and snorkeled in the scorching sun by day and, at night, took swabs from the trachea and cloaca of birds. Some of those birds turned out to have antibodies to a flu virus. From samples isolated on a subsequent trip, Webster and Laver isolated the first influenza virus, which then led to the first anti-flu drug. "All from walking on the beach," Webster says. Webster's obsession with flu took him to every corner of the world, from the Great Barrier Reef to Peru's Guano Islands, which have the world's highest concentration of birds. In the end, his quest led him back to Memphis, just two miles from his laboratory. Webster and Virginia Hinshaw—now provost of the University of California, Davis—decided to test birds that had been shot dead by Memphis hunters. Every day, the two sat for hours in a feather machine and took swabs from hundreds of dead birds. Webster says it never occurred to him to send a graduate student or technician to do the unpleasant work. "That's the difference between an American scientist and a New Zealand-trained scientist," he says. "We do it ourselves." Webster's willingness to do anything it takes to find answers might be the key to his success. "Flu is a global problem and you have to be prepared to go out and see the source," he says. "The hypothetical epicenter for influenza is in Asia. That's where the work lies—that's why I go there." At 71, he shows no signs of slowing down. In the matter of a few weeks this fall, he shuttled between Chicago, Okinawa, Memphis, Washington, DC, Hong Kong and Ames, Iowa. He still throws a legendary annual party where the star of the menu is home-grown corn, and spends three months every year as 'professor of excellence' at the University of Hong Kong. During his career, Webster has collected more than 10,000 nonpathogenic viruses from ducks and shorebirds. So far this year, he has made more than 100 shipments of viruses worldwide. There are several researchers—including Albert Osterhaus and Yoshihiro Kawaoka—who might carry on the work Webster began. But none combine Webster's persistence in spreading the message, says Crowe. Still, it may be time for Webster to slow down, says Laver, who recently reconciled with Webster after a decade-long rift. "The work [Webster] does is excellent," says Laver. But over the years, he says, Webster has become a bit too "preachy and pompous." Webster may be preaching, but his gospel needs to be spread, counters Crowe. "Right now he seems [like] a 'St. John the Baptist' type," Crowe says. "But you know, when the pandemic comes, which is inevitable, he will appear prophetic." |
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Posted: June 01 2006 at 7:47am |
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Kilt. nice find. I appreciate learning more about this man who has become so important in this battle. by the way, Dr. Laver sounds a might jealous.
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Samoa
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Joined: March 30 2006 Status: Offline Points: 507 |
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Posted: June 01 2006 at 11:48am |
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In a roundabout way, Webster is how I found this Forum.
I caught a short bit of an interview with him on TV a couple months ago. Here's this guy, eminently qualified, WITH NO BOOKS TO SELL and nothing to gain, saying the BF is on it's way , and that he personally has a 3 month stock of food on hand if it should hit the States. That fired my interest. I clicked his name on the Search bar and eventually wound up here. |
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Posted: June 01 2006 at 11:11pm |
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he watched H3N2 become a pandemic and he says H5N1 will do the same - he got his PhD because of H3N2
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