BACK!!

Wow! Awesome time at the Viral Evolution conference! But now I have a ton of work/blogging to catch up on!

First and foremost:
I must have had a near-death experience this weekend, or something, cause I was in heaven. Get this-- I got to see two gods in abiogenesis, Susanna Manrubia and Valerian Dolja, get into a good-natured debate over the probabilities of there being life on other planets at dinner. Marco and I were cheering on Susanna (Valerian was dead the second he brought up astrophysics, unaware that was Susannas area of expertise).

We were eating enchiladas.

It was so surreal. Like having afternoon tea with Luke Skywalker and Gene Kelly.

The Nobel Prizes:
While Im pleased the Nobel Prize for Medicine went to virologists this year... Im kinda confused. I mean, you expect a Nobel for the people who cure HIV-1, or make an effective vaccine... not for the folks who found the virus. Its just... odd.

As far as the Gallo snub goes, I wasnt even born when Montagnier discovered HIV-1, so Im not the best person to ask about the research drama going on at that time :P All I know is, Montagnier found it first. *shrug*

The second presidential debate:
Just in case you missed the second debate last night, I found a 45 second recap on YouTube:

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Whoooo! Thank you for your interest in the Noble Foundation's Workshop in Virus Evolution. Your abstract has been accepted for presentation as a POSTER. Registration for the meeting is now open... Whoooo! My first conference! And is in... Ardmore... LOL! I have no idea why/how this workshop…
Remember Luc Montagnier? Sure, you do. He's the Nobel Laureate whose identification of the virus that causes AIDS garnered him plaudits, laurels, and, of course, the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Unfortunately, since winning the Nobel Prize, from a scientific standpoint, Montagnier's been on a downward…
So while you all were having fun watching the VP debate last night, I was at (am at) Viral Evolution 2008 listening to Marco Vignuzzi and Susanna Manrubia and Evilutionary Biologist talk about viral evolution. We are also drinking beer. Im. So. Happy. BRB!
The 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been split between the discoverers of two viruses of major pathophysiological importance. Half of the prize goes to German Dr prof Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of human papilloma virus as the cause of cervical cancer while the other half…

That's the great thing about conferences. I've had similar surreal experiences witnessing some of the legends of protist evolution having spirited debates about this sort of thing. It's truly epic and amazing when it happens.

By Daniel Gaston (not verified) on 08 Oct 2008 #permalink

Worst part of last night's debate? The fact that we couldn't ask questions in real-time. I so wanted to ask my good friend and hero John McCain what the fuck he has against planetaria!

I work in an HIV lab in the University of Maryland system (but at a different institution than Gallo does), so when the news broke it was a bit of a big deal for us. It would have been nice to have another professor here with a Nobel Prize and the recognition would have been great, but beyond that we're all pretty evenly split on how we felt about the snub to Gallo.
It is a shame that they've reopened the wounds of that huge fight; Montagnier and Gallo had agreed to share credit for the discovery equally, so this really flies in the face of their decision. I just hope this decision was made because the committee honestly thought Montagnier was solely responsible for the discovery and not due to any scientific politics (We've all heard that Gallo can be an abrasive guy--that doesn't win you friends, but you can't argue that he's not an amazing scientist).
I'm waiting to see if there are any letters to the editor about this in Nature or Science. It'll be interesting to watch all the drama (a girl needs something to do during incubations!).

By Katherine (not verified) on 08 Oct 2008 #permalink

You are really forgetting the more important thing: von Hausen also got a share of the medicine nobel, for discovering that cervix carcinoma is caused by papillomaviruses. That's really important news for the women on this planet, also there is already a vaccine against this. He should have gotten the nobel alone. Maybe another one for Montagnier & Gallo the next year.

The conference seemed nice. I also want to go on some, but I'm still too undergraduate.

Debate - meh. It seemed to be an exercise in who was least evasive in answering direct questions. By that measure Obama - unsurprisingly - won.

Still, when old Gramps McNasty and Failin' Palin are on the GOP ticket, you've got to wonder why there's even a need for a debate at all...

By The Chimp's Ra… (not verified) on 08 Oct 2008 #permalink

Montagnier and Gallo are like two bumbling theives fighting over fake diamonds. Neither of them found the virus, neither of them proved that the virus was pathogenic in any scientific sense.

Glad that only 1 clown, not 2, got the Nobel!

By Ky Sanderson (not verified) on 08 Oct 2008 #permalink

We need to see some serious blogging on that viral evolution, ERV. I won't stop nagging you until you do it!

The more people say "planetaria", the more I think of flatworms.

Dunno who those guys were, but we don't want them, thank ya very much.

Glad you had so much fun. Sounds like you're a lot better at this stuff than I ever was (no surprise there).

C'mon, share with us what you and Mr. Vignuzzi learned over enchiladas about the probabilities of there being life on other planets!

ERV readers wanna know!

And as to tea with Luke Skywalker and Gene Kelly, this is as close as you'll most likely get: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4cloV35GiE&feature=related

So grab a mug and be amazed! It's around the 8:30 mark.

Surreal indeed.

Now, please spill about those probabilities!

I dont remember much (seriously, like a dream) but Valerian didnt think that we would find life on other planets/moons/asteroids/etc. Susanna was more optimistic :)

Yay Manrubia!

Thanks ERV!

Hi Abbie, I'm happy for you.

And yeah the Nobel Prize is odd isn't it... And coincidentally it came just a few days after the press conference in New York, with Janine Roberts' revelations about how the original papers linking HIV/AIDS together were fraudulent and so on:
AIDS Press Conference Release
HIV/AIDS Theory Originates From Fraud?

An interesting topic...

Abbie, did you see this over at PZ's blog? Wow....

I'm glad that the REAL brains behind the discovery of HIV got a Nobel gong, after all the political and legal to-ing and fro-ing between Montagnier and Gallo, which has been a bit of a yawn to those of us outside France and the US.

Congratulations to Professor Barre-Sinoussi. She is, as several Scienceblogs commentators have already noted, a class act. She was also, notably, the lead author of the seminal paper about the virus's isolation.