Political Viruses: Retroviruses During the War on Cancer

Saturday, February 18, 2017: 11:00 AM-11:15 AM
Room 308 (Hynes Convention Center)
Retroviruses are infamous today for their association with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. However, they have a longer history in science policy debates over how to plan research. This class of viruses emerged as one of the main targets of the War on Cancer during the 1970s.

During the late 1960s it appeared to many that researchers were on the verge of revealing a human cancer virus and developing a vaccine against cancer.  The promoting research into RNA tumor viruses, or retroviruses, provided common political ground between a community of molecular biologists and advocates of the creation of an aggressive, “moonshot,” cancer research program.  For the molecular biologists that worked on retroviruses, however, this idea of managed research threatened their sense of independence and creativity. They fiercely contested the allocation of generous funding to C-type RNA virus research by officials at the National Cancer Institute.

The status of basic questions of RNA tumor virology thus became entangled with heated debates over the organizational form of patronage in biomedical research. The “failure” to find a human cancer virus left lasting legacies. In the process of their opposition, molecular biologists articulated attitudes towards government intervention in science that echo to this day. Moreover, in addition to their importance to AIDS research, retroviruses played a vital role in the discovery of oncogenes.

Organizer:
Robin Scheffler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moderator:
Stephanie Shipp, Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech
Speakers:
Robin Scheffler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Political Viruses: Retroviruses During the War on Cancer