Experiencing the Tumor Virus Course 1972

[R Weiss]

For me, my first visit to CSHL was the most powerful experience because I came with my family in August 1972 and stayed for over 2 weeks organizing and teaching the Tumor Virus course with Bernhard Hirt. My wife Margaret's lasting impression was that on arrival, Jim Watson carried her suitcase! I loved the the research community and envied Joe Sambrook's lifestyle and intellect. But when I said how wonderful it would be to work here and be able to walk across the grass barefoot from lodging to lab, Margaret pointed out that living on a 'feudal estate' might be more problematic than I imagined. I returned to CSHL often.

The 1974 Symposium was a notable occasion being devoted to tumor viruses and David Baltimore's summing up (a year before his Nobel) was masterful. My paper at that meeting on viruses with mixed glycoproteins (pseudotypes) set the tone for the eventual development of retroviral vectors bearing foreign envelopes and the use of replicating agents such as vesicular stomatitis virus as vaccines. Then there was a series of annual tumor virus workshops and the field expanded so much that it split into DNA and RNA tumor virus workshops. The latter continues to this day including a big input on HIV as the Retrovirus Workshop held each May.