James D. Watson, Ph.D.

SUMMARY: This offering is a typed letter signed in which Watson lays out strategy for cancer prevention. Price:$475.00

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James Dewey Watson (b. 1928). American Biologist and Educator, Co-Discovered DNA. Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1962).

 

Thid offering is a typed letter signed, James Watson. 1 p, 8 in x 10 in, September 8, 2008, on Cold Spring Harbor Letterhead. The letter reads in part--"The answers to your questions are dealt with in part by my new book--Avoid Boring People--My main aim in the near future is to help promote drugs that will prevent most common cancers from ever arising--".

 

This letter is important because in one sentence Watson crystallized the current scientific thinking on cancer control and that is to stop cancer from getting started in the first place because after a cancer is established it may be difficult or impossible to control. This approach is based on the scientific theory that there normally exists in certain human genes, genetic sequences that, if allowed to express themselves, are capable of causing a cancer in man.These genes are sometimes called oncogenes (Cancer Genes) and are present in man as part of his genetic heritage-call it what ever you will (?evolution).The theory is that the oncogenes are, under normal circumstances, blocked from expressing themselves by chemical entities that could be designated anti-oncogenes. Through the process of aging and after multiple cell divisions the blocking molecules loose their effect or just disappear thus allowing expression of the oncogene and the formation of a new cancer.One of the strategies of scientists like Watson it to develop compound(s) that will continue to block the oncogenes and thus prevent a cancer, as Watson said, "from ever forming." In a sense this would be like a preemptive chemotherapy.

Born in Chicago, he enrolled at the age of 15, earned a B.Sc. in Zoology at the University of Chicago in 1947 and a Ph.D. in Zoology at Indiana University at Bloomington in 1950 before heading to Copenhagen for postdoctoral work.

In 1952, he started at Cavendish Laboratory, where he met Francis Crick. Building on the X-ray diffraction research of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, they together deduced the double helix structure of DNA, which they published in the journal Nature on April 25, 1953. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery in 1962.

In 1988, Watson's achievement and success led to his appointment as the Head of the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health, a position he held until 1992.

Like his late colleague, Francis Crick, Watson is an outspoken atheist, known for his frank opinions on politics, religion, and the role of science in society. He has been considered to hold a number of controversial views.

A frequent public speaker, Watson currently serves as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Watson resides on the grounds of the laboratory.

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Price: $ 475.00