Peter Palese

Peter Palese is a United States microbiologist and Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 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 inhibitors (which are now FDA-approved antivirals)" and "pioneered the field of reverse genetics for negative-strand RNA viruses". Furtherance of this technique has been used by Palese and his colleagues in reconstructing and studying the pathogenicity of the extinct but deadly1918 pandemic influenza virus. Reverse genetics also assist in the development of new flu vaccines.

Palese is the author of multiple book chapters and more than 400 scientific publications. He is on the editorial board for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). He has been awarded multiple patents on viral vaccines and antivirals.

Palese received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1969 and his M.S. In pharmacy in 1970 from the University of Vienna. 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 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 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 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

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.

Palese is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2000), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2012), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2002) and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2006). He has served the presidencies of the Harvey Society from 2003–2004 and the American Society of Virology from 2005–2006. In 2014, he was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He hasreceived an Honorary Doctorate from both Baylor College of Medicine (2014) and McMaster University (2016).

• Robert Koch Prize (2006).
• Charles C. Shepard Science Award (2006 and 2008).
• Wilhelm Exner Medal (2007).
• European Virology Award (EVA) (2010).
• Sanofi – Institut Pasteur Award (2012).
• Beijerinck Virology Prize from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2015).
• Maurice Hilleman/Merck Award from American Society for Microbiology (2016).

Partial List:

• Palese, P. (1977). "The genes of influenza virus". Cell. 10 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(77)90133-7. PMID 837439.
• Buonagurio, D. A.; Nakada, S.; Parvin, J. D.; Krystal, M.; Palese, P.; Fitch, W. M. (1986). "Evolution of human influenza a viruses over 50 years: Rapid, uniform rate of change in NS gene". Science. 232 (4753): 980–982. doi:10.1126/science.2939560. PMID 2939560.
• Luytjes, W.; Krystal, M.; Enami, M.; Parvin, J. D.; Palese, P. (1989). "Amplification, expression, and packaging of foreign gene by influenza virus". Cell. 59 (6): 1107–1113. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(89)90766-6. PMID 2598262.
• Enami, M.; Luytjes, W.; Krystal, M.; Palese, P. (1990). "Introduction of site-specific mutations into the genome of influenza virus". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 87 (10): 3802–3805. doi:10.1073/pnas.87.10.3802. PMC 53991. PMID 2339122.
• Fitch, W. M.; Leiter, J. M.; Li, X. Q.; Palese, P. (1991). "Positive Darwinian evolution in human influenza a viruses". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 88 (10): 4270–4274. doi:10.1073/pnas.88.10.4270. PMC 51640. PMID 1840695.
• García-Sastre, A.; Egorov, A.; Matassov, D.; Brandt, S.; Levy, D. E.; Durbin, J. E.; Palese, P.; Muster, T. (1998). "Influenza a virus lacking the NS1 gene replicates in interferon-deficient systems". Virology. 252 (2): 324–330. doi:10.1006/viro.1998.9508. PMID 9878611.
• Fodor, E.; Devenish, L.; Engelhardt, O. G.; Palese, P.; Brownlee, G. G.; García-Sastre, A. (1999). "Rescue of Influenza a Virus from Recombinant DNA". Journal of Virology. 73 (11): 9679–9682. PMC 113010. PMID 10516084.
• Talon, J.; Salvatore, M.; O'Neill, R. E.; Nakaya, Y.; Zheng, H.; Muster, T.; García-Sastre, A.; Palese, P. (2000). "Influenza a and B viruses expressing altered NS1 proteins: A vaccine approach". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97 (8): 4309–4314. doi:10.1073/pnas.070525997. PMC 18238. 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.; García-Sastre, A. (2005). "Characterization of the Reconstructed 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic Virus". Science. 310 (5745): 77–80. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.418.9059. doi:10.1126/science.1119392. PMID 16210530.
• Lowen, A. C.; Mubareka, S.; Tumpey, T. M.; García-Sastre, A.; Palese, P. (2006). "The guinea pig as a transmission model for human influenza viruses". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (26): 9988–9992. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604157103. PMC 1502566. PMID 16785447.
• Zamarin, D.; Ortigoza, M. B.; Palese, P. (2006). "Influenza a Virus PB1-F2 Protein Contributes to Viral Pathogenesis in Mice". Journal of Virology. 80 (16): 7976–7983. doi:10.1128/JVI.00415-06. PMC 1563817. PMID 16873254.
• König, R.; Stertz, S.; Zhou, Y.; Inoue, A.; Hoffmann, H. -H.; 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. T.; Palese, P.; Shaw, M. L.; Chanda, S. K. (2010). "Human Host Factors Required for Influenza Virus Replication". Nature. 463 (7282): 813–817. doi:10.1038/nature08699. PMC 2862546. PMID 20027183.
• Wang, T. T.; Tan, G. S.; Hai, R.; Pica, N.; Petersen, E.; Moran, T. M.; Palese, P. (2010).m. Fouchier, Ron A. (ed.). "Broadly Protective Monoclonal Antibodies against H3 Influenza Viruses following Sequential Immunization with Different Hemagglutinins". PLoS Pathogens. 6 (2): e1000796. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000796. PMC 2829068. PMID 20195520.
• Steel, J.; Lowen, A. C.; Wang, T. T.; Yondola, M.; Gao, Q.; Haye, K.; Garcia-Sastre, A.; Palese, P. (2010). "Influenza Virus Vaccine Based on the Conserved Hemagglutinin Stalk Domain". mBio. 1 (1): e00018–e00010. doi:10.1128/mBio.00018-10. PMC 2912658. PMID 20689752.
• Wang, T. T.; Tan, G. S.; Hai, R.; Pica, N.; Ngai, L.; Ekiert, D. C.; Wilson, I. A.; Garcia-Sastre, A.; Moran, T. M.; Palese, P. (2010). "Vaccination with a synthetic peptide from the influenza virus hemagglutinin provides protection against distinct viral subtypes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (44): 18979–18984. doi:10.1073/pnas.1013387107. PMC 2973924. PMID 20956293.
• Palese, P. (2012). "Don't censor life-saving science". Nature. 481 (7380): 115. doi:10.1038/481115a. PMID 22237069.