Joseph Sambrook made many important contributions to molecular and biochemical genetics, studying animal viruses, and particularly those viruses with DNA that integrate into the host cell genome. He was a member of the group that first demonstrated the physical integration of the DNA sequences of SV40 and other polyoma viruses into the chromosomes of the cells they transform. He subsequently defined the sequences which are necessary and sufficient to effect malignant transformation, and was a pioneer in the use of restriction enzymes for the physical mapping of mutations in adenovirus. He was the first to analyse the DNA sequences of the integration sites of SV40, work that confirmed the ‘onion skin’ model of excision. Joseph also analysed the expression of influenza virus haemagglutinin from genes cloned in SV40 vectors and studied the factors influencing the transport of haemagglutinin to the cell surface by in vitro modification of the genes.
Professor Joseph Sambrook FRS died on 14 June 2019.
