Robin A. Weiss
University of London
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Primary Section: 44, Microbial Biology Membership Type:
International Member
(elected 2013)
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Biosketch
Robin Weiss is Emeritus Professor of Viral Oncology in the Division of Infection & Immunity at University College London (UCL). Weiss is a virologist and cell biologist best known for the discovery of endogenous retroviruses in chickens, and that CD4 is the binding receptor for HIV. Born in 1940 in London, Weiss gained his BSc in 1961 and his PhD in 1969 at UCL. He worked in Kerala, India, in Prague, Czech Republic, and in Seattle and Los Angeles, USA, before taking a post at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, London in 1972. He was Director of Research at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, 1980-1998, returning to UCL in 1999. Until recently he was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to manage a team engaged in the Collaboration on AIDS Vaccine Research. Weiss has been president of the British Association for Cancer Research and president of the Society for General Microbiology. He currently chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
Research Interests
Llama single chain antibody fragments that neutrlaize viruses for mapping epitopes. Transmissible canine venereal cancer as an example of a cancer cell that evades host immunity and is naturally transferred from one host to another. Largely retired from laboratory research.
