Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Annu Rev Microbiol. 2012;66:1-24. doi: 10.1146/annurev-micro-092611-150133.
I was surprised to be invited to write a prefatory chapter for the Annual Review of Microbiology. Indeed, I did not feel that I belonged to that class of eminent scientists who had written such chapters. Perhaps it is because I am a kind of mutant: In spite of having experienced war, both German and Soviet occupations, repeated bombardments, dictatorships, and a revolution, I managed nonetheless to engage in scientific research, thus realizing a childhood dream. After having obtained my Doctor Rerum Naturalium degree in Budapest, Hungary, I was fortunate to meet Jacques Monod at the Pasteur Institute, and this became a turning point in my scientific career. In his laboratory, I contributed to the definition of the lactose operon promoter, uncovered intracistronic complementation in β-galactosidase, and investigated the role of cAMP in Escherichia coli. In my own laboratory, together with many gifted students and collaborators, I studied the role of adenylate cyclase in bacterial virulence. This allowed the engineering of recombinant adenylate cyclase toxin from Bordetella pertussis for the development of protective and therapeutic vaccines.
我很惊讶被邀请为《微生物学年评》写一篇序言。事实上，我并不认为自己属于那种写过此类章节的杰出科学家之列。也许是因为我是一种突变体：尽管经历了战争、德国和苏联的占领、反复的轰炸、独裁和革命，但我还是设法从事科学研究，从而实现了童年的梦想。在匈牙利布达佩斯获得自然科学博士学位后，我有幸在巴斯德研究所遇到雅克·莫诺，这成为我科学生涯的一个转折点。在他的实验室里，我为乳糖操纵子启动子的定义做出了贡献，揭示了β-半乳糖苷酶的顺式内互补作用，并研究了 cAMP 在大肠杆菌中的作用。在我自己的实验室里，我和许多有天赋的学生和合作者一起研究了腺苷酸环化酶在细菌毒力中的作用。这使得我们能够从百日咳博德特氏菌中构建重组腺苷酸环化酶毒素，用于开发保护性和治疗性疫苗。
