Peter Vogt on On The Double Helix
  Peter Vogt     Biography    
Recorded: 23 Feb 2012

I have a great story about Jim and the discovery of DNA structure. When I applied to the Max-Planck Institute for virology as a graduate student I had to have an interview. So I walk into the office of the professor and he has this little tube, sort of a plastic tube, on his desk, and there was a strange model in there. And he shoved it over to me and said, “Do you know what that is?” I had no idea. That was 1955. It was a double helix. I remember the text books we had in botany would discuss the contents of the cell nucleus and sort of mention briefly DNA. And say,--- of functional DNA unknown, probably some inert structural material. That was in 1955 still in textbooks.

Dr. Peter Vogt, M.D., Ph.D., serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Vogt is at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Lasker Award winner. His fundamental studies on oncogenic avian retroviruses led to the identification of oncogenes in human cells. Dr. Vogt is the editor-in-chief of Virology, a scientific journal.

Dr. Peter Vogt intends to continue his work at the Scripps Research Institute. He is currently working to generate small molecule inhibitors that interfere with the spread of cancer as a new therapeutic approach.