Lwoff, Andre Michel

▪ 1995

      French scientist (b. May 8, 1902, Ainay-le-Château, France—d. Sept. 30, 1994, Paris, France), shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with François Jacob and Jacques Monod. Their research established how the genetic material of certain bacteria-infecting viruses that have become incorporated into the chromosome of their host cell can be passed along in a noninfective state to succeeding generations of bacteria and then reactivated to produce infective viral particles. Lwoff graduated from the University of Paris in 1921, the same year he joined the Pasteur Institute. He earned medical and science doctorates at Paris in 1927 and 1932, respectively. Lwoff was appointed head of the laboratory at the Pasteur Institute in 1929, and in 1938 he became the head of the microbiology and physiology department. During World War II, he was an active member of the Resistance and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour and the Medal of the Resistance. From 1959 to 1968 he chaired the microbiology department at the Sorbonne. Lwoff's work on viral interactions with host cells greatly influenced cancer research and resulted in his appointment (1968) as director of the Cancer Research Institute at Villejuif, France, a position he held until his retirement in 1972. In later years Lwoff became involved in various movements, ranging from family planning to the control and banning of chemical and biological weapons. His writings include Biological Order (1962) and Jeux et combats (1981; "Games and Combats").

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