Peter Palese
Encyclopedia
Peter Palese, Ph.D, is an American
microbiologist
and Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center
in New York City
, and an expert in the field of RNA viruses.
Palese built "the first genetic maps for influenza A, B
and C
viruses, identified the function of several viral genes, ...defined the mechanism of neuraminidase inhibitor
s (which are now FDA-approved antivirals
)" and "pioneered the field of reverse genetics
for negative-strand
RNA virus
es". Furtherance of this technique has been used by Palese and his colleagues in reconstructing and studying the pathogenicity
of the extinct but deadly 1918 pandemic influenza virus. Reverse genetics also assist in the development of new flu vaccine
s.
Palese is the author of multiple book chapters and more than 300 scientific publications. He is on the editorial board for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded multiple patents on viral vaccines and antivirals.
. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
from 1970 until 1971, when he joined the Department of Microbiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
as Assistant Professor. In 1976 he was Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. In 1987 he was named Chairman of the Department of Microbiology of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Working alongside Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre
, Palese's research showed that most negative-strand RNA viruses counteract antiviral responses in infected hosts, owing to proteins possessing interferon
antagonist activity. His work on "fundamental questions concerning the genetic make-up and biology of viruses" and virus-host interactions "uses molecular biological techniques to understand how viruses replicate and how they interact with cells to cause disease in their hosts", with emphasis on "the study of RNA viruses, including influenza, paramyxo
and corona (SARS) viruses
". Recent achievements include the development of a highly successful new animal model (the guinea pig) for studying the transmission of influenza viruses.
and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, since 2002 and 2006 respectively, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
in 2000. He has served the presidencies of the Harvey Society from 2003–2004 and the American Society of Virology from 2005-2006. Among his honors are the Robert Koch Prize
(2006), the Charles C. Shepard
Science Award (2006 and 2008), and the European Virology Award (EVA) (2010).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
microbiologist
Microbiologist
A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
and Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is one of the oldest and largest teaching hospitals in the United States. In 2011-2012, Mount Sinai Hospital was ranked as one of America's best hospitals by U.S...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and an expert in the field of RNA viruses.
Palese built "the first genetic maps for influenza A, B
Influenzavirus B
Influenzavirus B is a genus in the virus family Orthomyxoviridae. The only species in this genus is called "Influenza B virus".Influenza B viruses are only known to infect humans and seals, giving them influenza...
and C
Influenzavirus C
Influenzavirus C is a genus in the virus family Orthomyxoviridae, which includes those viruses which cause influenza. The only species in this genus is called "Influenza C virus".Influenza C viruses are known to infect humans and pigs, giving them influenza...
viruses, identified the function of several viral genes, ...defined the mechanism of neuraminidase inhibitor
Neuraminidase inhibitor
Neuraminidase inhibitors are a class of antiviral drugs targeted at the influenza virus, which work by blocking the function of the viral neuraminidase protein, thus preventing the virus from reproducing by budding from the host cell....
s (which are now FDA-approved antivirals
Antiviral drug
Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections. Like antibiotics for bacteria, specific antivirals are used for specific viruses...
)" and "pioneered the field of reverse genetics
Reverse genetics
Reverse genetics is an approach to discovering the function of a gene by analyzing the phenotypic effects of specific gene sequences obtained by DNA sequencing. This investigative process proceeds in the opposite direction of so-called forward genetic screens of classical genetics...
for negative-strand
Sense (molecular biology)
In molecular biology and genetics, sense is a concept used to compare the polarity of nucleic acid molecules, such as DNA or RNA, to other nucleic acid molecules...
RNA virus
RNA virus
An RNA virus is a virus that has RNA as its genetic material. This nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA but may be double-stranded RNA...
es". Furtherance of this technique has been used by Palese and his colleagues in reconstructing and studying the pathogenicity
Pathogenicity
Pathogenicity is the ability of a pathogen to produce an infectious disease in an organism.It is often used interchangeably with the term "virulence", although virulence is used more specifically to describe the relative degree of damage done by a pathogen, or the degree of pathogenicity caused by...
of the extinct but deadly 1918 pandemic influenza virus. Reverse genetics also assist in the development of new flu vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s.
Palese is the author of multiple book chapters and more than 300 scientific publications. He is on the editorial board for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded multiple patents on viral vaccines and antivirals.
Biography
Palese received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1969 and his M.S. In pharmacy in 1970 from the University of ViennaUniversity of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
The Roche Institute of Molecular Biology was created on July 14, 1967 when Jim Burns, then the vice president of research at Hoffman-La Roche, persuaded biochemist Sidney Udenfriend to leave the National Institutes of Health and help him create a basic science institute at the Hoffman-La Roche,...
from 1970 until 1971, when he joined the Department of Microbiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is an American medical school in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, currently ranked among the top 20 medical schools in the United States. It was chartered by Mount Sinai Hospital in 1963....
as Assistant Professor. In 1976 he was Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. In 1987 he was named Chairman of the Department of Microbiology of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Working alongside Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre
Adolfo García-Sastre
Adolfo García-Sastre, Ph.D., is a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and co-director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City...
, Palese's research showed that most negative-strand RNA viruses counteract antiviral responses in infected hosts, owing to proteins possessing interferon
Interferon
Interferons are proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens—such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites—or tumor cells. They allow communication between cells to trigger the protective defenses of the immune system that eradicate pathogens or tumors.IFNs belong to...
antagonist activity. His work on "fundamental questions concerning the genetic make-up and biology of viruses" and virus-host interactions "uses molecular biological techniques to understand how viruses replicate and how they interact with cells to cause disease in their hosts", with emphasis on "the study of RNA viruses, including influenza, paramyxo
Paramyxovirus
Paramyxoviruses are viruses of the Paramyxoviridae family of the Mononegavirales order; they are negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses responsible for a number of human and animal diseases.-Genera:*Subfamily Paramyxovirinae**Genus Avulavirus Paramyxoviruses (from Greek para-, beyond, -myxo-,...
and corona (SARS) viruses
Coronavirus
Coronaviruses are species in the genera of virus belonging to the subfamily Coronavirinae in the family Coronaviridae. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses with a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and a helical symmetry. The genomic size of coronaviruses ranges from approximately 16 to 31...
". Recent achievements include the development of a highly successful new animal model (the guinea pig) for studying the transmission of influenza viruses.
Honors and awards
Palese, a member of the Austrian Academy of SciencesAustrian Academy of Sciences
The Austrian Academy of Sciences is a legal entity under the special protection of the Federal Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every field, particularly in fundamental research...
and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, since 2002 and 2006 respectively, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
in 2000. He has served the presidencies of the Harvey Society from 2003–2004 and the American Society of Virology from 2005-2006. Among his honors are the Robert Koch Prize
Robert Koch Prize
The Robert Koch Medal and Award are two prizes awarded annually for excellence in the biomedical sciences. These awards grew out of early attempts by Robert Koch to generate funding to support his research into the cause and cure for tuberculosis...
(2006), the Charles C. Shepard
Charles C. Shepard
Dr. Charles C. Sheppard was a microbiologist, and former director of Centers for Disease Control’s Laboratory Division. It was through the diligent efforts of doctors Sheppard, and cohort microbiologist Joseph McDade, which lead to the 1977 discovery of the initially illusive bacterium Legionella...
Science Award (2006 and 2008), and the European Virology Award (EVA) (2010).
Publications
Partial List:- Palese, P. The genes of influenza virus. Cell, 10:1-10, 1977. PMID 837439
- Buonagurio, D.A., Nakada, S., Parvin, J.D., Krystal, M., Palese, P. and Fitch, W.M. Evolution of human influenza A viruses over 50 years: rapid, uniform rate of change in NS gene. Science, 232:980-982, 1986. PMID 2939560
- Luytjes, W., Krystal, M., Enami, M., Parvin, J.D., and Palese, P. Amplification, expression and packaging of a foreign gene by influenza virus. Cell 59:1107-1113, 1989. PMID 2598262
- Enami, M., Luytjes, W., Krystal, M., and Palese, P. Introduction of site-specific mutations into the genome of influenza virus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 87:3802-3805, 1990. PMC53991, PMID 2339122
- Fitch, W.M., Leiter, J.M.E., Li, X., and Palese, P. Positive Darwinian evolution in human influenza A viruses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88:4270-4274, 1991. PMC51640, PMID 1840695
- García-Sastre, A., Egorov, A., Matassov, D., Brandt, S., Levy, D.E., Durbin, J. E., Palese, P. and Muster, T. Influenza A virus lacking the NS1 gene replicates in interferon-deficient systems. Virology 252:324-330, 1998. PMID 9878611
- Fodor, E., Devenish, L.J., Palese, P., Brownlee, G.G. and García-Sastre, A. Rescue of influenza A virus from recombinant DNA. J. Virol. 73:9679-9682, 1999. PMC113010, PMID 10516084
- Talon, J., Salvatore, M., O’Neill, R.E., Nakaya, Y., Zheng, H., Muster, T., García-Sastre, A., and Palese, P. Influenza A and B viruses expressing altered NS1 proteins: A novel vaccine approach. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97:4309-4314, 2000. PMC18238 PMID 10725408
- Tumpey, T.M., Basler, C.F., Aguilar, P.V., Zeng, H., Solórzano, A., Swayne, D.E., Cox, N.J., Katz, J.M., Taubenberger, J.K., Palese, P. and García-Sastre, A. Characterization of the reconstructed 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic virus. Science, 310:77-80, 2005. Selected as the LancetThe LancetThe Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
Paper of the Year 2005. PMID 16210530 - Lowen, A.C., Mubareka, S., Tumpey, T.M., García-Sastre, A., Palese, P. The guinea pig as a transmission model for human influenza viruses. PNAS, 103:9988-9992, 2006. PMC1502566 PMID 16785447
- Zamarin, D., Ortigoza, M.B., and Palese, P. Influenza A virus PB1-F2 protein contributes to viral pathogenesis in mice. J. Virol., 80:7976-7983, 2006. PMC1563817 PMID 16873254
- König, R., Stertz, S., Zhou, Y., Inoue, A., Hoffmann, H-Heinrich, Bhattacharyya, S., Alamares, J.G., Tscherne, D.M., Ortigoza, M.B., Liang, Y., Gao, Q., Andrews, S.E., Bandyopadhyay, S., De Jesus, P., Tu, B.P., Pache, L., Shih, C., Orth, A., Bonamy, G., Miraglia, L., Ideker, T., García-Sastre, A., Young, J.A., Palese, P., Shaw, M.L., Chanda, S.K. Human host factors required for influenza virus replication. Nature, 463:813-817, 2010. PMC2862546, NIHMS165660, PMID 20027183
- Wang, T.T., Tan, G.S., Hai, R., Pica, N., Petersen, E., Moran, T.M., Palese, P. Broadly Protective Monoclonal Antibodies against H3 Influenza Viruses following Sequential Immunization with Different Hemagglutinins. PLoS Pathog. 2010 Feb 26;6(2):e1000796. PMC2829068, PMID 20195520
- Steel, J., Lowen, A.C., Wang, T.T., Palese, P., et al. Influenza virus vaccine based on the conserved hemagglutinin stalk domain. mBio, 1(1): pii: e00018-10, 2010. PMC2912658, PMID 20689752
- Wang, T. T., Tan, G.S., Hai, R., Pica, N., Ngai, L., Ekiert, D.C., Wilson, I.A., García-Sastre, A., Moran, T.M., Palese, P. Vaccination with a synthetic peptide from the influenza virus hemagglutinin provides protection against antigenically divergent viral subtypes. PNAS, 107:18979-18984, 2010. PMID 20956293
External links
- The Mount Sinai Hospital homepage
- The Mount Sinai School of Medicine homepage
- The Palese Laboratory at the Mount Sinai Medical Center
- Swine flu discussion with Dr. Peter Palese on Give and Take with Julie MeninJulie MeninJulie Menin is the Chairperson of Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan, New York City and a frequent writer, blogger and television news commentator. A former regulatory attorney with special interests in environmental, FTC and FDA law, Menin was elected to CB1 in a 2005 special election and...
- A roundtable discussion about the avian flu. Laurie GarrettLaurie GarrettLaurie Garrett is a Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist and writer of two bestselling books. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1996 for a series of works published in Newsday, chronicling the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire.-Biographical information:Garrett...
, Harvey V. FinebergHarvey V. FinebergHarvey Fineberg is President of the Institute of Medicine. He served as Provost of Harvard University from 1997 to 2001, following thirteen years as Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. He has devoted most of his academic career to the fields of health policy and medical decision making...
, Peter Palese and Paul NursePaul NurseSir Paul Maxime Nurse, PRS is a British geneticist and cell biologist. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland H. Hartwell and R...
on Charlie RoseCharlie Rose (talk show)Charlie Rose is an American television interview show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show is syndicated...
, March 22, 2008. - Swine Flu: H1N1 Interview with Dr. Peter Palese on 60 Minutes60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....