Marguerite Vogt
Marguerite Vogt
Marguerite Vogt, MD (1913 - 2007 ) was a cancer biologist and virologist. The youngest daughter of Oskar Vogt and Cécile Vogt-Mugnier, Marguerite took her MD degree from the University of Berlin in 1937 Vorlage:Citation
Vorlage:Citation . She joined her parents at a private Institute in Neustadt, the Black Forest, for the duration of World War II, where she worked extensively on Drosophila development Vorlage:Citation
. She published over 30 papers on the ring gland and homeotic mutants Vorlage:Citation.
Marguerite moved to the California Institute of Technology in 1950 to work with Max Delbrűck. He introduced her to Renato Dulbecco,a junior faculty member in the division of biology Vorlage:CitationVorlage:Citation
Vorlage:Citation , and together, Vogt and Dulbecco worked on methods to culture poliovirus. They were the first to successfully grow the virus in vitro and were able to plaque purify it, an essential step for subsequent vaccine production Vorlage:Citation
Vorlage:Citation. This resulted in a classic paper Vorlage:Citation
They next turned their attention to studying cancer causing viruses, beginning with polyoma virus. They successfully transformed hamster cells with polyoma virus, resulting in another classic paper Vorlage:Citation
Dulbecco was recruited to the newly founded Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 1963, and Marguerite joined him as a research fellow in his group Vorlage:CitationVorlage:Citation Vorlage:Citation. They continued their work on tumor-causing viruses. However, their interests diverged, and in 1973, Marguerite was appointed as a Research Professor which was an independent position that allowed her to pursue her interest in the cancer biology. Her interests evolved to examining cellular immortalization in cancer cells, and the role of telomeres in this process. She published her last paper in 1998.
Marguerite Vogt made significant contributions as a scientist to Dulbecco's work and in her own right. Moreover, she was an influential mentor and colleague to many junior scientists, among them several future Nobel laureates. Her work was never recognized by a major prize, though this is widely viewed as an oversight. She was notable for her work ethic, and was busy in her lab even into her 80s. She died July 6th, 2007, in La Jolla, CA.
