Longtime virology researcher and University of Chicago virology professor Bernard Roizman’s work made strides toward a better understanding of the herpes simplex virus.
Roizman’s research into HSV, a common, skin-to-skin infection for which there is no vaccine or cure, included mapping many of the herpes genes and their functions. Although no vaccine exists against HSV-1, which is the virus that produces cold sores around the mouth, nor against HSV-2, which is genital herpes, Roizman’s research helped lay the foundation for an eventual vaccine.
Roizman’s work in understanding HSV gene sequences also allowed for the tracing of viral transmission between individuals, and proved that earlier hospital practices inadvertently spread neonatal HSV infections. His research also led to advances in cancer therapies based on oncolytic viruses, or specially engineered forms of the HSV virus that have the ability to destroy cancer cells.
“Bernard was the most brilliant scientist whom I have ever met,” said Richard Whitley, a professor of pediatrics, microbiology, medicine and neurosurgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a close friend and colleague. “He could see things that none of the rest of us in science could imagine, including the structure (and) function of HSV genes, (and) the potential for genes deleted from HSV that led to gene therapy of such devastating diseases as glioblastoma multiforme and the potential of vaccines.”
Roizman, 96, died of respiratory failure on April 13 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said his niece, Leslie Fisher. A Hyde Park resident, Roizman had been battling Parkinson’s disease, she said.
Born in Chisinau, Romania — now, a part of Moldova — in 1929, Roizman was an only child, born of Jewish parents. The family became refugees during World War II, and they were deported to central Asia. Roizman attended high school in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Romania.
Roizman’s family immigrated to the U.S. in 1947, settling in Philadelphia. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1954.
Roizman initially had intended to study law. Partway through Temple University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in science in 1952, he pivoted. Taking courses in microbiology in order to speed up his college graduation, he found he loved the subject.
Roizman picked up a master’s degree from Temple in 1954, and then a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1956. Roizman subsequently remained at Johns Hopkins for nine more years, as a microbiology instructor and assistant professor.
While at Johns Hopkins, Roizman and two colleagues discovered the respiratory syncytial virus, which infects lungs and the respiratory tract. In 1965, the U. of C. hired him and he was named full professor in 1969.
Roizman convened a herpes virus workshop in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in 1972. Later that year, working with a team of researchers from the U. of C. and from Emory University, Roizman found circumstantial evidence of a link between herpes simplex type 2 and cervical cancer. That conclusion soon proved to be false — almost all cervical cancer cases, others’ research later proved, are caused by the human papillomavirus infection (HPV).
Undeterred, Roizman continued his work on HSV. By the 1970s, Roizman had discovered that HSV’s gene sequences are different in unrelated individuals but are identical among related individuals infected with the virus. That insight allowed the tracing of viral transmission, which in turn enabled him to prove that nurses in hospital maternity wards had been transmitting HSV between infants through a lack of hand-washing. Roizman’s findings led to better hygiene in maternity wards, and a dramatic decrease in HSV infections in neonatal wards.
Later, in the 1990s, Roizman’s meticulous work identifying the functions of many of HSV’s 84 genes uncovered an enzyme that became a key target for antiviral drug development. Roizman developed forms of the virus that can infect and destroy cancer cells while not damaging the body’s central nervous system, as HSV normally does. Such therapies, known as oncolytic viruses, now are regularly used in cancer treatment.
“Dr. Roizman was a towering figure in the field of virology,” said Arturo Casadevall, the chair of the microbiology and immunology departments at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. “He carried out foundational studies in virology that included being a co-discoverer of respiratory syncytial virus and defined much of the biology of herpes viruses. Apart from his immense contributions at the bench, he trained legions of virologists (who) are currently working on numerous viruses.”
Fisher said her uncle was proud to mentor numerous students in his career. Beginning with Roizman’s 60th birthday, former students and postdoctoral fellows returned to the U. of C. every five years for a symposium celebrating his work.
“I once asked him how graduate students in his laboratory selected their research projects,” Fisher said. “He told me that they generally chose the questions they wanted to pursue. When I asked what happened if he thought they were heading in the wrong direction, he smiled and said that he would continue asking them questions until they arrived at the answer themselves. What struck me was that he trusted both their intelligence and the mentoring process. He guided rather than dictated.”
One controversy in Roizman’s career occurred in 1999, when a former postdoctoral student who had worked in his lab from 1982 until 1996 sued him and the U. of C. in federal court, seeking more than $35 million in damages, accusing him of taking sole credit for the genetic basis for therapies involving the herpes virus. In 2002, Roizman and the university settled the suit.
Ralph Weichselbaum, the chair of UChicago Medicine’s department of radiation and cell oncology, called Roizman “a brilliant investigator, teacher, friend and mentor.”
“He was a wonderful, patient, generous friend,” Weichselbaum said. “On a personal note, Bernard gave me important and insightful advice on medical research projects outside of his immediate scope. His brilliance and insight were transformative for me.”
After retiring in 2017, Roizman consulted on research projects, Fisher said.
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Roizman’s wife of 71 years, Betty, died in 2021. In addition to his niece, he is survived by a son, Arthur.
A service was held. A memorial service is planned for Oct. 16 at the U. of C.’s Rockefeller Chapel, followed by a scientific symposium the next day.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.