The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences will present its 2001 M.W. Beijerinck Prize for Virology on 26 November to Robin A. Weiss, Professor of Viral Oncology at University College London.

Professor Weiss will receive a prize of NLG 75,000 (EUR 34,000) for his work in the field of virology, and in particular for his research on retroviruses.

Robin Weiss (1940) is Professor at the Wohl Virion Centre, part of the Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences at University College London. He previously worked for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratories, and from 1980 to 1998 he was director of research at the Institute of Cancer Research, London.

Professor Weiss studies human and animal viruses, focusing in particular on newly identified viruses and viruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans. He is particularly interested in viruses that can cause AIDS or cancer, such as HIV, HTLV and certain herpes viruses. He has focussed on cell surface receptors for retroviruses and showed that the CD4 antigen is the binding receptor for HIV. He also discovered 'endogenous' retroviruses that are inherited as Mendelian traits in the host. He investigated endogenous retroviruses in pigs and showed that these could possibly infect humans. Weiss' 1997 report in Nature Medicine showing that pig endogenous retroviruses can infect human cells sparked off a major debate about the potential risks of xenotransplantation.

The prize will be presented on Monday 26 November at 16.00 hrs at the Academy's headquarters. Professor A.D.M.E. Osterhaus, winner of the 1998 Beijerinck Medal for Virology, will introduce Professor Weiss, who will lecture on Retroviruses: family heirlooms and new acquisitions. He will describe how some retroviruses are inherited and as part of our genetic makeup whereas others such as HIV have crossed over from other species in the recent past.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences established the M.W. Beijerinck Virology Fund in 1965 in memory of virologist Martinus Willem Beijerinck. Until now, the Academy has awarded a medal to a leading virologist every three years, usually to a Dutch recipient. Thanks to a recent legacy, it has now become possible for the Academy to award an international prize of EUR 34,000 in the field of virology every three years.