André Lwoff

Facts

André Lwoff

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

André Lwoff
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1965

Born: 8 May 1902, Ainay-le-Château, France

Died: 30 September 1994, Paris, France

Affiliation at the time of the award: Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Prize motivation: “for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis”

Prize share: 1/3

Work

Bacteriophages are viruses that attach themselves to bacteria, emptying their genetic material into them. At times, many new phage are created quickly, while at other times, new phage are formed only several bacterial generations later. In the early 1950s André Lwoff successfully explained how this process, known as lysogeny, works. The bacteriophage's genes are incorporated into the bacteria's genetic material, but remain latent until a trigger factor causes new phage to be formed. Lwoff also showed that ultraviolet light can be one such factor.

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