During these years he met Salvador Luria and Rita Levi-Montalcini, whose friendship and encouragement would later bring him to the United States. I continued to visit the Institute of Morbid Anatomy in Torino where I joined in underground political activities together with Giacomo Mottura, a senior colleague. I used the technique for studying the biological properties of poliovirus. Thus I wrote a paper to the same effect in Science in 1986. We also started investigating the changes in gene expression in human breast cancer, using two new approaches for improving the results: one was the isolation of pure cancer cells in order to avoid contamination with genes expressed by various types of normal cells present in a cancer; the other was to adopt the SAGE approach to measure gene expression, in order to avoid the complications of the microarray technology. Synopsis Born in Italy in 1914, Renato Dulbecco was a virologist who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine along with Howard M. … Molecular biologist who proved that virus-derived genes can trigger cancer. I also went back to school, enrolling in regular courses in physics, which I pursued for the next two years. He was born to Leon-ardo and Maria Dulbecco in Catanzaro, Italy, on February 22, 1914, and he died in La Jolla, California, on February 19, 2012. With Marguerite Vogt he pioneered the culturing of animal viruses and investigated… Oncoviruses are the cause of some forms of human cancers. Dulbecco's study gave a basis for a precise understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which they propagate, thus allowing humans to better fight them. Renato Dulbecco, nato a Catanzaro il 22 febbraio 1914, a soli sedici anni si iscrive alla facoltà di Medicina dell'Università di Torino, dove incontra due studenti, Salvador Luria e Rita Levi Montalcini ''che avranno poi una grande influenza sulla sua vita''. Their work started my interest in the tumor virus fields. So in the autumn 1947 we both embarked for the US. He also retained his position on the faculty of Salk Institute for Biological Studies. This work has led to discovering many aspects of the interaction of this virus (and of SV40) with the host cells in lytic infection and transformation. For although I had general goals, the actual path followed by my research was pragmatically determined by what could be done at any given time, and my young collaborators were an essential part of this process. Renato Dulbecco (/dʌlˈbɛkoʊ/ dul-BEK-oh, Italian: [reˈnaːto dulˈbɛkko, -ˈbek-]; February 22, 1914 – February 19, 2012) was an Italian–American virologist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses, which are viruses that can cause cancer when they infect anima I moved to Caltech in the summer 1949. from the University of Turin in 1936 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1947. Renato Dulbecco studied the effect of a simple DNA tumour virus on cultivated cells. All through the student years I was at the top of my class although I was two years younger than everybody else. Prix Nobel/ Nobel Lectures/The Nobel Prizes. . Temin and Baltimore showed that, when a viral gene is transferred to a cell, an enzyme known as reverse transcriptase (RNA-dependent DNA polymerase), facilitates it and then replicates the … NobelPrize.org. In Torino I was a very successful student, but I soon realized that I was interested in biology more than in applied medicine. [23] He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1974.[2]. In the late 1950s, he took Howard Temin as a student, with whom, and together with David Baltimore, he would later share the 1975 Nobel Prize in Phy… These successes brought me an appointment first to associate professor, then to full professor at Caltech. When Mussolini’s government collapsed and Italy was taken over by the German army I hid in a small village in Piemonte and joined the Resistance, as physician of the local partisan units. The results can be interpreted as implicating the mammary stem cells in the origin of the cancer. A gene is made of DNA. I moved back to Levi’s Institute and worked together with Levi-Montalcini, who encouraged me to go to the USA to work in modern biology. To cite this section However, the life of routine politics was not for me and within months I left that position to return to the laboratory. (National Council of Research) in Milan. For more than a century, these academic institutions have worked independently to select Nobel Laureates in each prize category. He had a remarkable career in science that spanned over 60 years. Renato Dulbecco broke new ground in the study of viruses and cancer at Caltech and later was a founding member of the Salk Institute in La Jolla. There he started his studies about animal oncoviruses, especially of polyoma family. Renato Dulbecco, who has died aged 97, shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Howard Temin and David Baltimore, for research which … Dulbecco, Renato Enciclopedia dei ragazzi (2005) Una vita per il DNA Renato Dulbecco, nato nel 1914, ha lavorato fino a tarda età giungendo ad alcune delle più grandi scoperte nella biologia dei virus, dei tumori e, più recentemente, dedicandosi all'impresa del Progetto genoma umano. After taking my MD degree in 1936 I was called up for military service as a medical officer. A year later, however, I was called up again because of the Second World War. I was fascinated by the beauty and immensity of the USA and the kindness of its people. Although I liked especially physics and mathematics for which I had considerable talent, I decided to study medicine. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975". What I remember most of that period, besides my family and the few friends, was the rocky beach where I spent most of my time during the summer holiday, and a small meteorological observatory, where I used to spend lots of my free time throughout the year. He died on February 19, 2012, three days before his 98th birthday. In addition, it is well known that in the 1980s and 1990s, an understanding of reverse transcriptase and of the origins, nature, and properties of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, of which there are two well-understood serotypes, HIV-1, and the less-common and less virulent HIV-2), the virus which, if unchecked, ultimately causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), led to the development of the first group of drugs that could be considered successful against the virus, the reverse-transcriptase inhibitors, of which zidovudine is a well-known example. Si laurea nel 1936, appena prima di partire per il servizio militare come ufficiale medico fino al 1938. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975, Renato Dulbecco - Nobel Lecture: From the Molecular Biology of Oncogenic DNA Viruses to Cancer. Renato Dulbecco (, ; February 22, 1914 – February 19, 2012) was an Italian–American virologist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses, which are viruses that … Within a year I had made two good pieces of work, using my mathematical knowledge, and discovered photoreactivation of phage inactivated by ultraviolet light. My dream was to work in genetics of some very simple organism, possibly using radiations. In 1948 he published, with Salvador Luria, his first real scientific paper in Genetics on bacteriophage genetics and in 2008 published his last paper in PNAS on breast cancer tumor-initiating cells. Renato Dulbecco è l’uomo che ha lanciato nel 1985 il «Progetto genoma umano». Renato Dulbecco, renowned virologist and cancer researcher, passed away peacefully at his home in La Jolla, CA, February 19, 2012, 3 days before his 98th birthday. "Renato Dulbecco (1914–2012) Molecular biologist who proved that virus-derived genes can trigger cancer", "Renato Dulbecco: Viruses, genes, and cancer", "Renato Dulbecco and the new animal virology: Medicine, methods, and molecules", "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975", "The properties of a mammary gland cancer stem cell", "Distinct populations of tumor-initiating cells derived from a tumor generated by rat mammary cancer stem cells", "Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Renato_Dulbecco&oldid=995576264, California Institute of Technology faculty, Italian military personnel of World War II, Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences, Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine, Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Pages using infobox scientist with unknown parameters, Nobelprize template using Wikidata property P8024, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 20:21. From early on at Salk, Renato recognized that the DNA of the virus was the active agent causing cell transformation. It came to an end after five yeas, and was not renewed. He was celebrated not only for his scientific achievements but also for inspiring a generation of younger scientists who went on to become distinguished in their own fields. Twelve laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2020, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Dulbecco was a part of the group which made key discoveries on the functioning of oncoviruses the viruses that can cause cancer when they infect animal cells. [22] Dulbecco's examinations into the origin of mammary gland cancer stem cells in solid tumors was a continuation of his early investigations of cancer being a disease of acquired mutations. I was urged in this direction by Rita Levi-Montalcini, who was herself preparing to go to another laboratory in USA. So I went to work with Giuseppe Levi, the professor of Anatomy, where I learned Histology and the rudiments of cell culture. In 1940 Italy entered World War II and Dulbecco was recalled and sent to the front in France and Russia, where he was wounded. Renato Dulbecco, Nobel per la Medicina del 1975, ... Ma un altro importante lascito dello studioso è il grande sforzo fatto per sequenziare il DNA umano, che Dulbecco caldeggiò e per il quale si attivò, sollecitando tutta la comunità scientifica a fare altrettanto. He asked me whether I was interested. There I had a narrow escape on the front of the Don during a major Russian offensive in 1942: I was hospitalized for several months and sent home. Tasked with a mission to manage Alfred Nobel's fortune and has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions of Nobel's will. I went to work with Luria in Bloomington, Indiana, where I shared with him a small laboratory under the roof, to be soon joined by Jim Watson. This, according to the research leads to the acquisition of the tumor phenotype of the infected cells. Within less than a year, I worked out such a method, which opened up animal virology to quantitative work. The Italian biologist Renato Dulbecco (1914-2012) had early success isolating a mutant of the polio virus which was used to create a life-saving vaccine. He encouraged me and offered me a small salary for working in his group. Dulbecco was born in Catanzaro (Southern Italy), but spent his childhood and grew up in Liguria, in the coastal city Imperia. After I received the Nobel Prize my research interest shifted to the study of naturally occurring cancers. Renato Dulbecco Nobel Lecture Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1975. Renato Dulbecco Biographical I was born in Catanzaro, Italy, from a Calabrese mother and a Ligurian father. Despite a strong interest in mathematics and physics, he decided to study medicine. Ritratto esclusivo 1987: la comunità scientifica internazionale lancia il Progetto Genoma Umano; come coordinatore italiano viene scelto il professor Renato Dulbecco. In the end it helped the emergence of the genome project. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. L'impegno era immane e imponeva una collaborazione globale. Dulbecco's groundbreaking work on viruses was recognized in 1975 with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (shared with David Baltimore and Howard Temin). He was drafted into the Italian army in World War II, but later joined the resistance. He was married twice, first to Giuseppina Salvo and later to Maureen Rutherford Muir. In Levi’s laboratory I met two students who later had a strong influence on my life: Salvador Luria and Rita Levi-Montalcini. Renato Dulbeccoand his team of researchers, Temin and Baltimore, were able to prove that a normal cell being infected by certain types of viruses (oncoviruses) can result in the build-up of virus-derived genes in the host cell genome. Un lavoro terminato nel 2000 con la collaborazione di migliaia di scienziati. [17] As many Italian scientists Dulbecco did not have any PhD because it was not existent in the Italian higher education system (until when it was introduced in 1980[18]). Renato Dulbecco, (born February 22, 1914, Catanzaro, Italy—died February 19, 2012, La Jolla, California, U.S.), Italian American virologist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1975 with Howard M. Temin and David Baltimore, both of whom had studied under him.. Dulbecco obtained an M.D. I concentrated on a model system, mammary cancers induced in rats, and I spent some time learning how to work with them. After visiting the major centers of animal virus work in the US I set out to discover the way to assay animal viruses by a plaque technique, similar to that used for phages, using cell cultures. [15] In the late 1950s, he took Howard Temin as a student, with whom, and together with David Baltimore, he would later share the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell." Dr. Dulbecco's early work on bacterial viruses led to the development of methods for investigating the process of viral infection of normal cells in culture. Furthermore, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis mediated by oncoviruses closely resemble the process by which normal cells degenerate into cancer cells. Innovation at Cold Spring Harbor 383 02:13 23. I was sent briefly to the French front, and a year later to Russia. È stato insignito del Premio Nobel per la medicina nel 1975.. The Italian Project produced some results, but was handicapped by the isolation of the researchers and the limitation of facilities and financing. Il padre ligure è ingegnere del genio civile, che lo manda in Calabria per ricostruire le case distrutte da una serie di terremoti avvenuti all’inizio del secolo. 22 Dec 2020. David Baltimore, Howard Temin and Renato Dulbecco shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of the cell. This autobiography/biography was written Renato Dulbecco (Catanzaro, 22 febbraio 1914 – La Jolla, 19 febbraio 2012) è stato un biologo e medico italiano. In 1968, he and Joseph Sambrook showed that the viral DNA was integrated into the cellular DNA and proposed that the virus was adding genes to cells, implying that genes cause cancer. There I developed a strong liking for physics, which I put to good use by building an electronic seismograph, probably one of the first of its kind, which actually worked. Using monoclonal antibodies against our cells we could identify several different types of cells, and proposed a role for them in the development of the gland. Haas M, Vogt M, Dulbecco … These suggestions remained without consequences.