French virologist Dr Luc Montagnier and Prof Bob Gallo co-discovered a key test, writes Claire O'Connell
Prof Bob Gallo's career has been marked by highs and lows and has courted controversy. Trained as a medical doctor in the US, Prof Gallo moved into research at the National Cancer Institute where he looked for possible links between viruses and cancer in the 1970s. It was an unpopular theory and one he had to defend, but he eventually discovered the first human retrovirus, HTLV, which is linked with an aggressive form of leukaemia.
While looking for viruses his lab made other important discoveries, such as interleukin-2, which was later recognised as a key factor in inflammation.
In the 1980s Gallo and French virologist Dr Luc Montagnier each staked claims on discovering the virus that causes Aids. It took several years for the hatchet to be buried between the French and US groups, particularly over the development of a blood test to screen for HIV, and in 1987 they were credited with co-discovery.
Workers in Prof Gallo's lab went on to develop drug therapies against HIV and later his group discovered that substances in the body called chemokines can also inhibit the virus. This opened up new research on how HIV infects human cells and advanced the field of vaccine development, in which is Prof Gallo is currently involved. However, he has no doubt that the years of rivalry and controversy over the discovery of HIV had a negative impact on his work output. "It was exceedingly painful and my family went through a lot," says Prof Gallo, who admits he still feels emotional about it when he reads accounts of that time.
"People ask, how did you function, maintain productivity, and I didn't. I had good young people who were devoted. It was really about five years of hell and it cost me any effectiveness for five, six years at the peak of my career and the best lab I ever had."