J. Michael Bishop

J. Michael Bishop
J. Michael Bishop
Born	John Michael Bishop February 22, 1936 Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Fields	Virology
Institutions	University of California, San Francisco Heinrich Pette Institute National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Alma mater	Harvard University
Known for	Oncogene Virus
Notable awards	Dickson Prize (1986) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1989) ASCB Public Service Award (1998) National Medal of Science (2003) ForMemRS (2008)[1]
Website profiles.ucsf.edu/j.michael.bishop

John Michael Bishop (born February 22, 1936) is an American immunologist and microbiologist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Harold E. Varmus and was co-winner of 1984 Alfred P. Sloan Prize.^[2] He currently serves as an active faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Education and early life

Bishop was born in Pennsylvania. He attended Gettysburg College as an undergraduate, where he was a brother of the Theta-Pi Zeta chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He later attended Harvard University where he earned an MD in 1962.

Career

Bishop began his career working for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a part of the National Institutes of Health. He then spent a year working for the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg, Germany before joining the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco in 1968.^[4] Bishop has remained on the school's faculty since 1968, and was chancellor of the university from 1998-2009.^[6] He is Director of the Bishop Lab.^[8]

Awards and honors

Bishop is best known for his Nobel-winning work on retroviral oncogenes. Working with Harold E. Varmus in the 1980s, he discovered the first human oncogene, c-Src. Their findings allowed the understanding of how malignant tumors are formed from changes to the normal genes of a cell. These changes can be produced by viruses, by radiation, or by exposure to some chemicals.^{[5][9][10][11]}

Bishop is also a recipient of National Medal of Science in 2003.^[7] That same year, his book "How to win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science" was published. He was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2008.^[1]

References

1. "Professor J Michael Bishop ForMemRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2015-10-21.
2. NCI Visuals Online: Image Details. Visualsonline.cancer.gov. Retrieved on 2013-11-24.
3. Nobel autobiography
4. Autobiography on UCSF Website Archived August 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
5. Nobel Prize press release
6. Susan Desmond-Hellmann named UC San Francisco chancellor
7. National Medal of Science details
8. Bishop Lab. Hooper.ucsf.edu. Retrieved on 2013-11-24. Archived December 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
9. Michael Bishop archival collection at UCSF
10. J. Michael Bishop at AccesExcellence.org
11. J. Michael Bishop's lecture: "Cancer: The rise of the genetic paradigm"