Peter Palese is a United States microbiologist, researcher, inventor and the Horace W. Goldsmith Professor in 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 is the author of multiple book chapters and more than 500 scientific publications. He is also 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.
Biography His primary schooling consisted of Greek and Latin and very little modern science. He later developed his interest in science at the University of Vienna, where he received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1969 and his M.S. in pharmacy in 1970. 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 an assistant professor.
Research Palese's research covers RNA-containing viruses with a particular focus on influenza viruses/vaccines. He 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 deadly 1918 pandemic influenza virus. Reverse genetics is also instrumental in developing new influenza viruses/vaccines. When viruses infect cells, they respond with antiviral interferons -- Palese and Adolfo García-Sastre showed that most negative-strand RNA viruses counteract that antiviral response with protein antagonists to interferons. 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". He developed a new animal model (the guinea pig) for studying the transmission of influenza viruses. Palese has been involved in developing novel vaccines against influenza viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Several of these vaccine approaches have been in human trials. Also, an anti-cancer vaccine based on a Newcastle disease virus vector has been tested in humans. As of 2022, Palese and his team are working on creating a universal influenza virus vaccine, and SARS-CoV-2, specifically for low and middle-income countries.
Patents Palese is named on 73 patents on Pubchem. As of 2023, recent patents include:
Memberships, honors and awards Palese is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2000), the National Academy of Medicine (IOM) (2012), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2002) and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2006). In 2014, he was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors. He has served the presidencies of the Harvey Society from 2003 to 2004 and the American Society of Virology from 2005 to 2006. He received honorary doctorates from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2006), 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). Lifetime Achievement Award for Scientific Contributions, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine (2017) Drexel Prize in Translational Medicine (2017)
Publications
Books and chapters Palese, P., Roizman, B., eds. Genetic Variation of Viruses. New York: The New York Academy of Sciences; 1980. ISBN 0897660986 Palese, P., Kingsbury, D.W., eds. Genetics of Influenza Viruses. New York: Springer-Verlag; 1983. ISBN 978-3-7091-8706-7, 978-3-7091-8708-1 Palese, P., Roizman, B., eds. Genetic Engineering of Viruses and Viral Vectors. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences; 1997. Basler, C., Palese, P. Modulation of Innate Immunity by Filoviruses. In: Klenk, H., Feldmann, H., eds. Ebola and Marburg Viruses, Molecular and Cellular Biology. Chap 11. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: BIOS Scientific Publishers; 2004:305-50. ISBN 0954523237 Palese, P., ed. Modulation of Host Gene Expression and Innate Immunity by Viruses. The Netherlands: Springer; 2005. ISBN 1402032412 Taubenberger, J.K., Palese, P. The Origin and Virulence of the 1918 Spanish Influenza Virus. In: Kawaoka, Y., ed. Influenza Virology Current Topics. Wymondham, UK: Caister Academic Press; 2006. ISBN 978-1-904455-06-6 Shaw, M.L. and Palese, P. Orthomyxoviruses: Molecular Biology. In: Mahy, B.W.J. and Van Regenmortel, M.H.V., eds. Encyclopedia of Virology, 3rd ed. Oxford: Elsevier; 2008:483-489. ISBN 0123739357 Hayden, F.G., Palese, P. Influenza Virus. In: Richman, D.D., Whitley, R.J., Hayden, F.G., eds. Clinical Virology. 3rd ed. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2009:943-976. ISBN 978-1-683-67407-8 Kopecky-Bromberg, S.A., Palese, P. Recombinant Vectors as Influenza Vaccines. In: Compans, R.W., Orenstein, W.A., eds. Vaccines for Pandemic Influenza. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg; 2009:243-268. ISBN 978-3-540-92164-6 Pica, N., Palese, P. and Steel, J. Live Attenuated Influenza Virus Vaccines: NS1 Truncation as an Approach to Virus Attenuation. In: Dormitzer, P.R., Mandl, C.W. and Rappuoli, R., eds. Replicating Vaccines. Basel: Springer; 2011:195-221. ISBN 3034602766 Pica, N. and Palese, P. Toward a Universal Influenza Virus Vaccine: Prospects and Challenges. In: Annual Review of Medicine. 2013:15-28. Palese, P. Influenza and Its Viruses. In: Engleberg, N.C., DiRita, V., Dermody, T.S., eds. Schaechter's Mechanisms of Microbial Disease, 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2013: chapter 36. ISBN 978-0-7817-8744-4 Krammer, F. and Palese, P. Orthomyxoviridae: The Viruses and their Replication. In: Knipe, D.M., Howley, P.M. et al., eds. Fields Virology, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer; 2021. ISBN 978-1-9751-1254-7
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