Henk Buck
This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject. (January 2011) |
Henk Buck (7 February 1930 – 27 November 2023) was a Dutch
Research
His research in Leiden and later in Eindhoven was focused on
A special topic in his research was
After a publication in Science about the inhibition of
At home without any academic support he wrote several articles based on quantum chemical calculations focused on the dynamics of organic reactions,
The Buck-Goudsmit controversy
In the mid-80s Henk Buck focused his research on the use of
The strong growth of
The results were published in Science on April 13, 1990.[16]
On the eve of the publication, the University of Eindhoven made the news public. It resulted in excited media attention in the Netherlands, and under the pressure Buck publicly stated that he assumed that AIDS would be of the past in a couple of years, although it was agreed not to make such claims. Afterwards he explained, he deliberately had said this to raise more funds for his research, although much later he defended himself by saying that he was provoked by the reporter.
Doubts raised immediately after the article appeared in Science. The next day, the
The doubts and criticism following the publication in Science led to a heated public debate in several Dutch newspapers and science magazines, and the university eventually acknowledged that the purity of the phosphate methylated DNA was still to be investigated. A committee was formed to investigate the proceedings and their conclusion (30 August 1990) was, that no phosphate methylated DNA could be traced. Also the committee reproached Buck for not paying attention to criticism from within his faculty. As a result, Buck was dismissed as dean of the faculty. Goudsmit was requested to test the antisense material once again, but his enthusiasm had cooled, and Buck could not produce the pure phosphate methylated DNA in time.
The publication in Science therefore had to be retracted.[17]
A second investigating committee reported at the end of the year that the presentation of the results in Science bordered on fraud. The report also said that Buck's behaviour in his group was impermissibly harsh at times. The committee concluded that it disqualified him as a research leader. As a result, Buck accepted early retirement.
Although Jaap Goudsmit generally was regarded as a victim in the affair, half a year later a journalist of a leading newspaper questioned his role in the débâcle. Goudsmit had reported the inhibition of HIV-replication, which was questionable, given the fact that the phosphate methylated DNA was not pure enough. Therefore, a third committee investigated the work of Goudsmit and his group as well. The committee concluded that Goudsmit had not checked the quality of Buck's material. Also they saw shortcomings in the interpretation and presentation of the results. The committee concluded that Goudsmit's research had been scientifically inadequate. Goudsmit did not go in appeal and could continue his work.
Henk Buck never accepted the outcome of this controversy. He persisted in his opinion that he could produce sufficiently pure phosphate methylated DNA. In several interviews he said that he felt that he has been pilloried for making a sincere mistake. He published two articles in the scientific magazine Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids [22] in which he tries to retrace what happened, and he goes as far as to claim that the investigating committees were wrong.
To this day, however, nobody produced pure phosphate methylated DNA strands in the quality Goudsmit required. All the efforts from Miller, Van Boeckel and Buck resulted in short instable fragments. Recent researches in this field are based on methyl phosphonate or phosphorothioate DNA. At present (2008) only one antisense medication exists, based on phosphorothioate oligonucleotide: Fomivirsen.
Buck died in Tilburg on 27 November 2023, at the age of 93.[1]
Sources
- Hagendijk, R. en Meeus, J. (1993) "Blind faith: fact, fiction and fraud in public controversy over science". Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 391-415.
- Rozendaal, S. (1992) "Barbertje wil weer werken. Waarom AIDS-onderzoeker Henk Buck moest hangen". Elsevier 21-10-1992, pp. 96–100
References
- ^ a b "Death notice Henk Buck". NRC (in Dutch).
- ^ "H.M. Buck" (in Dutch). Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ "Henk Buck, bekend van Buck-affaire, overleden op 93-jarige leeftijd" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. 5 December 2023. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023.
- ^ Van Pelt, P. et al. (1976) "Proton acid catalyzed hydride transfer from alkanes to methylated benzyl cations. Part III: Solvated alkanes as Hydrogen-donating intermediates", Journal of the American Chemical Society,Vol. 98, pp. 5864-5870
- ^ Vekemans, J.A.J.M. et al. (1991) "NADH model mediated reduction of C=N substrates: enantio-selective synthesis of D-and L-phenylglycinates",Thetrahedron: A symmetry, Vol.2, pp. 949–952
- ^ Donkersloot, M.C.A. et al.(1981) "The hydride-donation reaction of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. 2.MINDO/3 and STO-3G calculations on the role of the CONH2group in enzymatic reactions", Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 103, pp. 6554-6558
- ^ Aagaard, O.M. et al. (1990) "Intermolecular effects on the radiogenic formation of electron-capture phosphorus-centered Journalradicals A single-crystal ESR study of diastereoisomeric precursors", Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 112, pp. 938-944
- ^ Van Dijk, J.M.F. et al. (1978) "Ab initio CI calculation of the radiationless transition of the 1(npi)state of formaldehyde", Journal of the Chemical Physics, Vol. 69, pp. 2462-2473
- ^ Van Dijk, J.M.F. et al. (1978) "Ab initio CI calculation of single vibronic level fluorescence emission spectra and absolute radiative lifetimes of H2CO(1A2)", Journal of the Chemical Physics, Vol. 70, pp. 2854-2858
- ^ Dormans, G.J.M. et al. (1984) "A quantum chemical study on the mechanism of a photochemical {1,3]-OH shift in 2-propen-1-ol", Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 106, pp. 1213-1216
- ^ Dormans, G.J.M. et al. (1984) " Mechanism of the thermal [1,5]-H shift in cis 1,3-pentadiene. Kinetic isotope effect and vibrationally assisted tunneling", Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 106, pp. 3253-3258
- ^ Van Lier, J.J.C. et al. (1983) B-Z transition in methylated DNA. A quantum-chemical study", European Journal of Biochemistry, Vol. 132, pp. 55-62
- ^ Broeders, N.L.H. et al. (1990)"A 400- and 600- MHz 1H NMR conformational study on nucleoside cyclic 3',5'PV-TBP systems. Conformational transmission induces diequatorial orientation of the 3',5'-dioxaphosphorinane ring in a nonchair conformation", Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 106, pp. 7475-7482
- ^ a b European Patent entitled Poly(deoxyribonucleotides), pharmaceutical compositions, use and preparation of the poly(deoxyribonucleotides) München 09-06-1993, Patent NO. 0358657[permanent dead link]
- ^ Koole, L.H. et al. (1987) "A parallel right-handed duplex of the hexamer d(TPTPTPTPTPT) with phosphate triester linkages",Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 109, pp. 3916-3921
- ^ a b Buck, H.M. e.a. (1990) "Phosphate-Methylated DNA Aimed at HIV-1 RNA Loops and Integrated DNA Inhibits Viral Infectivity", Science, 13 April 1990: Vol. 248. no. 4952, pp. 208 - 212.
- ^ a b Moody, H.M. e.a. (1990) "Inhibition of HIV-1 Infectivity by Phosphate-Methylated DNA: Retraction", Science, Vol. 250, pp. 125-126.
- ^ Zamecnik P.C. e.a. (1978) "Inhibition of Rous sarcoma virus replication and cell transformation by a specific oligodeoxynucleotide." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America January;75(1)pp. 280-4
- ^ Miller P.S. e.a (1971) "Syntheses and properties of adenine and thymine nucleoside alkyl phosphotriesters, the neutral analogs of dinucleoside monophosphates." Journal of the American Chemical Society. Vol 93, pp. 6657-65
- ^ Kuijpers, W.H.A. e.a. (1990) "Synthesis of well-defined phosphate-methylated DNA fragments: the application of potassium carbonate in methanol as deprotecting agent", Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 18, pp. 5197-5205
- ^ Hagendijk (1993) p.401
- ^ Buck, H.M. (2004) "The Chemical and Biochemical Properties of Methylphosphotriester DNA", Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, Vol. 23, pp. 1833 - 1847.
Buck, H.M. (2007) "The Chemical and Biochemical Properties of Methylphosphotriester DNA and RNA in Comparison with their Corresponding Methylphosphonates. A Dynamic Model Description", Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, Vol. 26, pp. 205-222.