Shutting down science..

Well, I got a chance to talk with Peter Duesberg P.H.D yesterday at U.C Berkeley. Duesberg is the infamous HIV/AIDS Dissenter, world renown known. I went there to U.C with the excuse of seeing if I could get him to sign my book.

I was able to find him, at "Donner Hall" bldg, when he was fomerly at the "Stanley Hall" Blgd. It was reported that the move to Donner Hall was a "Step up " for Duesberg, it seems more of a 'Step out". His Lab at Donner hall is very very small. it could just handle a few students. When I found him in his office, it was much larger, there was another woman there later I found it it was his wife. At 70 years old perhaps they want to retire Duesberg, but he looks about 50...Maybe he's not as sharp as he was.

"I asked him where are your students?", he said something like, "Well we have one visiting student from China. But he said that he was (continuing) having probelms for getting funding for his lab. No one or student will want to work with him , if he has such difficulty getting funding, it might not look good on a resume.

So the guy is sitting in his office with his wife. Something wrong with that considering Duesberg past credentials.

[color=#339900]Education:
University of Würzburg,
Würzburg, Germany Vordiplom (Chemistry) 1956-1958
University of Basel
Basel, Switzerland 1958-1959
University of Munich
Munich, Germany Diplom (Chemistry) - 1961 1959-1961
University of Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany Ph.D. (Chemistry) - 1963 1961-1963

Research & Professional Experience:
Max-Planck Institute for Virus Research, Tübingen, Germany Postdoctoral Fellow 1963
Dept. of Molecular Biology
and Virus Laboratory;
University of California at Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant Research Virologist 1964
Assistant Professor in Residence 1968
Assistant Professor 1970
Associate Professor 1971
Since 1989: Dept. of Molecular & Cell Biology Professor 1973 to present

Honors:

1969, Merck Award
1971, California Scientist of the Year Award
1981, First Annual American Medical Center Oncology Award
1986, Outstanding Investigator Award, National Institutes of Health
1986, elected to National Academy of Sciences
1986-87, Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
1988, Wissenschaftspreis, Hannover, Germany
1988, Lichtfield Lecturer, Oxford, England
1990, C. J. Watson Lecturer, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, MN
1992, Fisher Distinguished Professor, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
1992, Shaffer Alumni Lecturer, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
1992, Constance Ledward Rollins Lecture, University of New Hampshire,
Durham NH, 15. Dec.
1996, Distinguished Speaker, Department of Biology, Univ. Louisville, KY,
Oct. 17, "AIDS: virus- or drug induced?"; Oct. 18, "The role of aneuploidy in cancer".
1997, January-July: Guest professor of the University of Heidelberg at the Medical School in
Mannheim (III Med. Klinik, director Prof. R. Hehlmann)
1998, August-December: Guest professor of the University of Heidelberg at the Medical School in Mannheim (III Med. Klinik, director Prof. R. Hehlmann)
2000, May 6-7 (Pretoria) and July 3-4 (Johannesburg): Member of the International Panel of Scientists invited by President Thabo Mbeki and the South African Government to discuss the AIDS crisis.
2000, July-December: Guest professor of the University of Heidelberg at the Medical School in
Mannheim (III Med. Klinik, director Prof. R. Hehlmann)[/color]

I think it was Duesberg that developed the idea that of "Oncogenes" or "Viruses that cause cancer" the is is where the HIV/AIDS research ,Cancer reseach gets their ideas..Duesberg is refuting these ideas now.

We talk alittle about alot of stuff. Duesberg went on his spiel , talking about sections of his book. I asked him "How come he doesn't revise his book. Its a great read but many alittle dated now. I told him he could add things like the retrovir listing in the Physician's desk referance on how the pharmacuetical company says AZT does some mimic some symptoms of AIDS and can be fatal. He could talk more about the Protease Inhibitors..there falling out of favor now. I'm sure there some things he could think of...but he didn't seem motivated to do it

. He thought the book was complete enough...he mentioned about the "little things in science that matter". He called present day science, "Junk Science". Duesberg mentioned something someone said to me in a post. Even when I showed evidence that current HIV therapies using protease inhibitors might be unhelpful....the poster thought that was the price to pay to prevent such a heinous disease like HIV/AIDS.The price of chemotherapy. But apparently Duesberg doesn't agree with this. What good is it when the cure might be worse than the disease.

I know Duesberg is doing some exciting things in Cancer research, If I see him again , I'll have to ask him about it.

I actually spent alot of time trying to make a point to Duesberg, when maybe I should have listened more, I did though. I had my camera,but didn't have a recorder, which might be a good idea to carry around, I regret I didn't take any pictures to show here and if you ask me theres plenty of room for more questions to Duesberg, like in a biography where we can find more detailed answers. I 'm probably not the best person to do this. Others have attempted this But I alittle dismayed, where are Duesbergs students? How can you miss that in an interview?

Mr Duesberg seemed to like me a bit, and I got to met his wife. There both Germans, Duesberg is from the WWII era in Germany!

Another weird thing about that encounter is that , I used to dream , or had a dream where I was up around that part of the campus of U.C. I've never been to that part of the campus before ,I don't go to school there. It reminded me of that part in my dream. Alot of this stuff did, particularly the part of the sense of 'Needed repair", of working on old things that have value like cars. Withs Duesberg's Astrology chart, I bet he has a liking for fast cars. There was a sort of car garage nearby, and Donner lab is just off a nice road that runs though campus. Like in my dream.

I was nervous looking around U.C there, but it was exiciting to walk around Donner lab,although its a small bldg...you can tell this is where some of the heavy lab work goes on. organic chemistry posters charts all around.

You see homelessness, beggars and all that in Berkeley, but it even exist in higher echelons of learning and status, how do you figure a guy like Duesberg could starving for funding, for just students, thats really awful. While other people stand around and watch, Ain't that America these days?