Posted on 11/20/2001 11:06:30 AM PST by archy
Search continues in mysterious case of missing biologist
By Thomas Jordan
jordan@gomemphis.com
One of the world's leading structural biologists, whose abandoned rental car was discovered on the Hernando DeSoto Bridge last week, remained missing Monday. Dr. Don C. Wiley, 57, a Harvard University biochemistry and biophysics professor, was in Memphis attending the annual meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The board met Wednesday and Thursday at the hospital.
Wiley's rented white Mitsubishi Galant was discovered abandoned on the bridge at 4 a.m. Friday.
Police said the key was in the car's ignition switch and the vehicle's hazard lights hadn't been turned on. The car also had a full tank of gas.
Memphis Police Inspector Matt McCann said Monday Wiley's disappearance was baffling.
"We just don't know where he is right at the moment," McCann said. "There is no indication of foul play that we can determine at this point."
McCann said Wiley is "known throughout the world in his field. For him to suddenly disappear like this is of great concern to us. We're putting in a lot of man-hours trying to locate him."
Dr. William Evans, deputy director of St. Jude, said Wiley has been a member of the advisory board for about 10 years. The board, composed of 15 physicians and scientists, evaluates the hospital's programs through discussions with faculty members.
Evans said he talked with Wiley Thursday night after a dinner at The Peabody. He said Wiley was in a good mood.
"Don was always the life of the party in terms of any kind of conversation . . . and he was doing just that," Evans said.
Wiley is an accomplished scientist, Evans said.
"He has won some major scientific prizes. . . . He's been considered for the Nobel Prize. He's one of the world's premier scientists in his field."
Wiley is the John L. Loeb Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
According to a biography of Wiley released by Harvard, he is "one of the most influential biologists of his generation." His work focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms through which viruses infect cells and the resulting immune responses they elicit.
He recently had been investigating dangerous viruses including AIDS, Ebola, Herpes Simplex and influenza.
In 1999, Wiley and another Harvard professor, Dr. Jack Strominger, won the Japan Prize for their discoveries of how the immune system protects humans from infections.
Wiley and Strominger won the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards in 1995 for their work on the immune system, which has shown how the body fights infection and rejects organ transplants.
- Thomas Jordan:
529-5880 November 20, 2001
Such a possibility was thoroughly explored [though utilizing Lepus alleni and/or Lepus callotis in a 1972 documentary film. The prospect is almost too horrible to contemplate. Even now, almost 30 years after viewing that horrible footage, echoes of the prophetic warnings still haunt me in occasional nightmares.
Oh, the horror....
I would also like to mention the fact that the Enquirer guy was in TN was he not? Maybe there is a strange relationship here. Maybe we are not piecing the puzzle the right way.
The military is planning on 18 new vaccines.
Or maybe they just need a prescription for Cipro.
I do remember some "questionable" activity in the Tennessee area lately.
I'll call the FBI as soon as I can find some chaser for a bottle of Rumpleminz I found on my way home.
=)
Is that something a terrorist would know, though? How many people have even heard the term "structural biologist"? I don't think I've ever seen it until I read this thread. Is it possible that a terrorist outfit would see the list of diseases the guy worked with, and decide he's just what they need, and then proceed to kidnap him?
IIRC, he got the idea while high on LSD, causing scores of acidhead burnouts to rant "SEE?!?!?! SEE?!?!?!"
I think this one was the problem: What is visna? (the original link was malformed and un-browsable)
See also the July 1994 death of Memphis attorney Stanley Huggins, certainly NOT an anthrax death. He went from robust and healthy, jogging on one Memphis morning, taking a commercial airline flight to a conference in Delaware, to deceased less than 24 hours later, in what was said to have been a case of viral pneumonia.
Such a strain of viral pneumonia, capable of infecting and killing a robust and healthy 46-year-old man in such a short timespan, would certainly make a viable biowarfare agent- if that was not its origin in the first place.
-archy-/-
Here is another monkey wrench - The CDC is thought of as a civilian agency, but unbeknownst to most -- virtually all of the major policy and professional appointments at the CDC are staffed by MILITARY officers. This is described in the official gov't handbook on U.S. federal agencies. If you want a copy I can send it to you.
Funny, on other threads you seem to put a lot of faith in the FDA. Pretty selective if you ask me. Is your faith agenda driven? Just curious.
Sweetheart, I never said I put faith in the FDA and/or CDC. Just read the damn reports!
On the other thread you said this:
You may want to read the latest GAO Report plus other past GAO Reports, Congressional Reports and the FDA Reports. When making an intelligent opinion you need all the facts first. I did not write the reports, the GAO did. I also didn't write the FDA reports, they did.
Looks to me, sweetheart, that you have faith in the government agencies that support your position and none (my Dept of Defense cite) that show you're wrong. That leads to the big question: How much faith should we have in you?
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