Belgian molecular biologist (1931–2019)
Walter Fiers (31 January 1931 inYpres,West Flanders – 28 July 2019 inDestelbergen)[1] was aBelgian molecular biologist.
He obtained a degree of Engineer for Chemistry and Agricultural Industries at theUniversity of Ghent in 1954, and started his research career as anenzymologist in the laboratory ofLaurent Vandendriessche in Ghent. In 1956–57, he worked withHeinz Holter [de] inCopenhagen (Denmark). In 1960, he obtained a fellowship from theRockefeller Foundation and joined the group ofBob Sinsheimer as a postdoc. At theCalifornia Institute of Technology Walter Fiers was exposed toMolecular Biology, which was then just developing, studying viralDNA. He demonstrated the physical, covalently closed circularity ofBacteriophagePhiX-174 DNA.[2] In 1962, Fiers moved toMadison,Wisconsin, to work in the laboratory of futureNobel laureate,Gobind Khorana.
At the end of 1962, Fiers returned to Belgium and set up the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Ghent. His research involved Bacteriophage MS2; he was the first to establish the complete nucleotide sequence of a gene (1972) and of a viral genome (bacteriophage MS2)(1976).[3][4] In 1978 Fiers and his team were the first to reveal the complete nucleotide-sequence ofSV40.[5] The development of totally new procedures and knowledge led to the ability to clone almost any gene and to replicate these efficiently into bacteria or in otherheterologous hosts.[6]
In 1997 Fiers retired and became Professor Emeritus, the following year he retired from his position as director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Together withXavier Saelens and their team, he continued his research, to find a universalinfluenza vaccine, based on theM2 protein on the surface of the influenza A virus.[7][8] The ectodomain of the M2 protein remains unchanged in all human influenza viruses known, including the strains that caused thepandemics in the last century, which makes it eligible for a universal influenza A vaccine.[9][10][11]
- ^NWS, VRT (30 July 2019)."Walter Fiers, pionier van de Vlaamse biotechnologie, is overleden".vrtnws.be. Retrieved23 August 2020.
- ^Fiers, W., and R. L. Sinsheimer, The structure of the DNA of bacteriophage PhiX 174. III. Ultracentrifuge evidence for a ring structure, J. Mol. Biol. 5:424–434, 1962
- ^Min Jou W, Haegeman G, Ysebaert M, Fiers W., Nucleotide sequence of the gene coding for the bacteriophage MS2 coat protein, Nature. 1972 May 12;237(5350):82–8
- ^Fiers W, Contreras R, Duerinck F, Haegeman G, Iserentant D, Merregaert J, Min Jou W, Molemans F, Raeymaekers A, Van den Berghe A, Volckaert G, Ysebaert M., Complete nucleotide-sequence of bacteriophage MS2-RNA - primary and secondary structure of replicase gene, Nature, 260, 500–507, 1976
- ^Fiers W, Contreras R, Haegemann G, Rogiers R, Van de Voorde A, Van Heuverswyn H, Van Herreweghe J, Volckaert G, Ysebaert M., Complete nucleotide-sequence of SV40 DNA, Nature, 273, 113–120, 1978
- ^Remaut E et al., Plasmid vectors for high-efficiency expression controlled by the PL promoter of coliphage-lambda, Gene, 15, 81–93, 1981
- ^Neirynck S, Deroo T, Saelens X, Vanlandschoot P, Jou WM, Fiers W, A universal influenza A vaccine based on the extracellular domain of the M2 protein, Nat Med. 1999 Oct;5(10):1157–63
- ^Fiers W, Neirynck S, Deroo T, Saelens X, Jou WM, Soluble recombinant influenza vaccines, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2001 December 29;356(1416):1961–3
- ^Fiers W, De Filette M, Birkett A, Neirynck S, Min Jou W, Auniversal human influenza A vaccine, Virus Res. 2004 Jul;103(1–2):173–6
- ^De Filette M, Min Jou W, Birkett A, Lyons K, Schultz B, Tonkyro A, Resch S, Fiers W, Universal influenza A vaccine: optimization of M2-based constructs, Virology. 2005 June 20;337(1):149–61
- ^De Filette M, Ramne A, Birkett A, Lycke N, Löwenadler B, Min Jou W, Saelens X, Fiers W, The universal influenza vaccine M2e-HBc administered intranasally in combination with the adjuvant CTA1-DD provides complete protection, Vaccine. 2006 January 30;24(5):544–51
- UGent - Academic bibliography, list of publications of Walter FiersWalter Fiers
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