Jean-Michel Vos
Authors: Markus Grompe, R.Jude Samulski
Journal: Molecular Therapy (2001)

We are saddened by the death of Jean-Michel Vos on November 31, 2000, who succumbed to cancer at the early age of 44 years. Jean-Michel received his Ph.D. at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium in 1984 under Dr. Jean Rommelaare studying UV-enhanced reactivation of the parvovirus Minute-Virus of Mice. He then moved to Stanford University as a postdoctoral scientist in the lab of Phillip C. Hanawalt. During this time, he worked on the interface of DNA repair and replication. His efforts resulted in a landmark paper on crosslink repair that was published in the journal Cell in 1987. That same year, he accepted a faculty position at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he was an active member of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and the Curriculum in Genetics. In his own lab, Jean-Michel continued to pursue his interest in DNA repair and replication. He further applied his intricate knowledge of viral replication to the development of mammalian artificial chromosomes. His 1994 Nature Genetics paper entitled “Human Artificial Episomal Chromosomes for Cloning Large DNA Fragments in Human Cells” was a major achievement in the area of chromosome engineering. Since the publication of this report, the Vos lab has made many contributions in the field of episomal gene therapy vectors, including the development of mini-herpesviruses for gene therapy and animal transgenesis. His 1995 Nature Medicine paper entitled “Therapeutic Gene Delivery in Human B-Lymphocytes with Non-transforming Engineered Epstein–Barr Virus” marked one of the first uses of this virus as a gene delivery system. This work led to studies aimed at targeted destruction of human B cell lymphoma using infectious mini-EBV-based suicide vectors. While he was a prominent contributor to the field of viral vector development, Jean-Michel also continued to be active in the DNA repair field, most recently describing the basic defect in Xeroderma pigmentosum variant cells. Jean-Michel was an active member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society of Human Genetics and a HUGO member and joined the American Society of Gene Therapy at its inception in 1997. He was a founding member of the editorial board of Molecular Therapy, edited one of the first books on viral vectors (Viruses in Human Gene Therapy, 1995), and was frequently invited to speak at national conferences. Jean-Michel will be missed not only as a scientist, but also as a fun-loving and good human being. He was committed to his family—his wife Eliane and his two young daughters Natasha and Olivia. He was an excellent athlete and a known risk-taker not only in the lab but also in his pursuit of life. He always sought out the double-black diamond runs at the annual Keystone conference. Colleagues that skied with him will always remember the good times enjoyed together on the slopes and through the trees of the backwoods. Not very long ago Jean-Michel successfully participated in the Boston Marathon, and there are many stories about his sailing excursions along the Atlantic coast. He left us too soon, but more importantly left us with the message that life should be lived to its fullest. Jean-Michel will be missed by all of us, especially his colleagues at the UNC Gene Therapy Center, his family, and his friends.