| Citation | Distinguished for his work on fowl leukosis viruses and Marek's disease. Biggs was one of the first workers to establish a genetic basis for the susceptibility of fowls to leukosis and sarcoma viruses. His work in this area has been of considerable academic and practical interest, contributing to the development of leukosis-free chicken flocks used for experimental studies and for the production of virus free vaccines free of potentially oncogenic adventitious agents. But his most important contributions have been in the study of Marek's disease. He clearly established the aetiological role of a herpesvirus in this disease, providing for the first time unequivocal evidence of the oncogenic potential of this group of viruses. He also elucidated several aspects of the pathogencity and epizootiology of Marek's disease and was largely responsible for the development of effective means of controlling this disease by vaccination. |