The history of interferon
My 50 years with interferon – Jan Vilcek:
It was undoubtedly a coincidence that I graduated from medical school in 1957 – the same year that Alick Isaacs and Jean Lindenmann published their first papers on interferon. That I graduated from medical school at all was a coincidence, too; had I not been growing up in the then communist Czechoslovakia, I very likely would have chosen a different field of study. In high school (called gymnasium in central Europe), I liked humanities-oriented subjects better than chemistry and math. Besides, my mother was an ophthalmologist, my parents wanted me to become a physician, and I was not inclined to choose a career that would please my parents! I enjoyed creative writing, and for many years, I had been thinking of becoming a journalist. When during my senior year at the gymnasium I had to make a final decision about what studies I would choose, however, my resolve not to become a physician began to weaken …
My fifty years with interferon. Journal of Interferon and Cytokine Research. 2007 27: 535-542
This is a wonderful historical anecdote…thanks for posting it! I personally have a friend whose life was saved by interferon.
Velvet revolution as they call it. Indeed it was. Being a physician is not all, but making things easier for them, certainly is. Go ahead, make your day! Interferons and interleukins aren’t bad at all.