AMERICAN BIOLOGICAL AND DNA SCIENTISTS WORKING ON EBOLA ALSO GONE!

NEWS BRIEF:  "Authorities Search For Missing Harvard Virus Specialist", Associated Press, November 24, 2001,

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,39355,00.html

"BOSTON — The FBI is monitoring the investigation into the disappearance of a Harvard biologist because of his research into potentially lethal viruses, including Ebola. Dr. Don C. Wiley, 57, was last seen in Memphis, Tenn., where he attended the annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His car was found on Nov. 16 on a bridge over the Mississippi River, with a full fuel tank and the key in the ignition. Wiley had left the Peabody Hotel just four hours before the rental car was discovered. He was supposed to have met his wife and two children that same day in Cambridge, Mass ...

"Wiley, a Harvard biochemistry and biophysics professor, is considered a national expert on Ebola, HIV and influenza.

Ebola is a highly contagious virus that kills 50 to 90 percent of its victims; there is no vaccine. In 1999, Wiley and another Harvard professor, Dr. Jack Strominger, won the Japan Prize for their discoveries of how the immune system protects humans from infections."

Dr. Wiley and Dr.. Strominger won the Japan Prize for their discoveries on how the human immune system can protect us from infections?  Now, that seems to be an important bit of information to have if a nation may be struggling with massive outbreaks of a deliberately caused infection, don't you think?

NEWS BRIEF:  "Scientist Found Slain In His Loudoun Home:  Peers Alarmed When He Missed Work",  by Maria Glod, Washington Post Staff Writer, December 12, 2001,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28864-2001Dec11.html

"A well-known biophysicist who was one of the leading researchers on DNA sequencing analysis was found slain in his rural Loudoun County home after co-workers became concerned that he didn't come to work Monday, authorities said yesterday.

According to CIT's Web site, Schwartz graduated cum laude from Catholic University and has a doctorate in biophysics from Stanford University. He worked at both Georgetown University and the University of Maryland and contributed chapters to the Nucleic Acid Sequence Database. He also worked on the first national online database of DNA sequence information."

"Robert G. Templin, who worked at CIT for about six years, described Schwartz as a brilliant scientist who had a gift for explaining complex scientific subjects in simple language.  'He was the kind of person who could live in the scientific world or the business world or the everyday world of Virginia citizens and explain why science is important' ..."

DNA sequencing is exceedingly important because it would be called upon to create a defense against pathogens.  In other words, once a biological or chemical attack was made, Dr. Schwartz could have been called upon to quickly examine the particular pathogen and quickly design a DNA counterattack that could stimulate the human body to develop a defense against the agent used. 

Now, he is gone, and his brilliance and his unique abilities are gone with him.