In honoring Campbell, ASM officials cited his "exceptional insights and achievements in the field of molecular genetics - a career of groundbreaking research that has had a profound influence on several fields, including molecular cloning and gene therapy."
One of his most celebrated accomplishments, ASM officials noted, was demonstrating the genetic relationship between bacteriophage lambda - one of a group of viruses that attack bacteria - and its host. In the 1950s, Campbell concluded that bacteriophage lambda associates and dissociates from its host by inserting and removing a circular viral genome, or set of genes, into the bacterial chromosome. This finding, known as the Campbell model, paved the way for genetic and biochemical studies of site-specific recombination - the exchange of genetic information between the genomes of different species - as well as current research on the manipulation of genomes.
"These early studies led to other noted achievements, including Campbell's discovery of nonsense mutations and important work on bacterial gene regulation," ASM officials said. "His studies of microbial population dynamics and the evolution of genome structure have increased microbiologists' understanding of such questions as how viruses act as agents of evolution for host genomes and the interaction between bacteriophage evolution and population structure."
Campbell also is being recognized for his "extraordinary commitment" to
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Contact: Mark Shwartz
mshwartz@stanford.edu
650-723-9296
Stanford University
30-Apr-2004