Kenneth W. Witwer is an associate professor of molecular and comparative pathobiology and

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

at the

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, United States. As nominated President-Elect of the

International Society for Extracellular Vesicles The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) is an international scientific organization that focuses on the study of extracellular vesicles (EV), including exosomes, microvesicles, oncosomes, and other membrane-bound particles th ...

(ISEV), Witwer previously served as Secretary General and Executive Chair of Science and Meetings of the society. His

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

studies extracellular vesicles (EVs), noncoding and

extracellular RNA Extracellular RNA (exRNA) describes RNA species present outside of the cells in which they were transcribed. Carried within extracellular vesicles, lipoproteins, and protein complexes, exRNAs are protected from ubiquitous RNA-degrading enzymes. ...

(exRNA), and

enveloped virus A viral envelope is the outermost layer of many types of viruses. It protects the genetic material in their life cycle when traveling between host cells. Not all viruses have envelopes. Numerous human pathogenic viruses in circulation are encase ...

es, including

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

. Witwer is a member of the Richman Family Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Alzheimer's Disease, has advised the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, and is an associate editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles.

Career and research

Witwer's PhD dissertation research was on retroviruses and the innate immune system responses to pathogens such as

Visna virus ''Visna-maedi virus'' (also known as ''Visna virus'', ''Maedi-visna virus'' and ''Ovine lentivirus'') from the genus '' Lentivirus'' and subfamily ''Orthoretrovirinae'', is a retrovirus that causes encephalitis and chronic pneumonitis in shee ...

and

simian immunodeficiency virus ''Simian immunodeficiency virus'' (''SIV'') is a species of retrovirus that cause persistent infections in at least 45 species of non-human primates. Based on analysis of strains found in four species of monkeys from Bioko Island, which was iso ...

(SIV) as models of

human immunodeficiency virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immun ...

(HIV), specifically regulation of

microRNA MicroRNA (miRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21 to 23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals and some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. mi ...

cytokine Cytokines are a broad and loose category of small proteins (~5–25 kDa) important in cell signaling. Cytokines are peptides and cannot cross the lipid bilayer of cells to enter the cytoplasm. Cytokines have been shown to be involved in autocrin ...

s, and the

promyelocytic leukemia protein Promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML) (also known as MYL, RNF71, PP8675 or TRIM19) is the protein product of the PML gene. PML protein is a tumor suppressor protein required for the assembly of a number of nuclear structures, called PML-nuclear bod ...

(TRIM19). He then completed a postdoctoral research project on miRNAs as

biomarker In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, p ...

s of HIV disease. In 2011, Witwer joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins, and he assumed a tenure-track position in 2012. His primary appointment is in the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology. He has a secondary appointment in Neurology and Neurosurgery. He is a member of the Cellular and Molecular Medicine program and the Richman Family Precision Medicine Center of Excellence in Alzheimer’s Disease at Johns Hopkins. The Witwer laboratory studies the roles of EVs, exRNA, and ncRNA in HIV disease of the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...

and in other

neurodegenerative disease A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...

s, such as Alzheimer's and

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. Another focus of the group is on how inflammatory insults like

cigarette smoking Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed ...

affect progression of disease. Beginning in 2013, Witwer examined the hypothesis that RNAs such as miRNAs in dietary substances could regulate endogenous

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

s in mammals. These studies led him and others to the conclusion that this type of regulation is unlikely to occur in normal physiology. He subsequently served on two Scientific Advisory Panels of the US EPA and addressed the

European Food Safety Authority The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002, ...

on related questions of environmental exposure to RNA.

Organization and editing

Witwer chaired the organizing committee of the ISEV2015 annual meeting ( Bethesda, United States). He has since filled several leadership roles with ISEV and was nominated to the post of President-Elect in 2022. Witwer has organized or co-organized workshops and other meetings on five continents. Responding in 2020 to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Witwer converted a monthly journal club at Johns Hopkins into a weekly worldwide virtual event known as "Extracellular Vesicle Club." The club became an official ISEV feature in 2021. He is co-Chair with

Paul Robbins Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

of the 2022 Gordon Research Conference on EVs. Witwer is an associate editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles and a member of the editorial boards of

Clinical Chemistry Clinical chemistry (also known as chemical pathology, clinical biochemistry or medical biochemistry) is the area of chemistry that is generally concerned with analysis of bodily fluids for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. It is an applied ...

and AIDS. He was instrumental in the founding of a second ISEV journal, the Journal of Extracellular Biology.

Scientific rigor, standardization, and advocacy

Witwer has contributed to scientific standardization and rigor efforts. He was corresponding author in 2013 of the first position paper of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles, on standardization of isolation and characterization of EVs in RNA studies. With Clotilde Théry, he coordinated the Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles (MISEV2018), a consensus guidelines document for the EV field. An opponent of

AIDS denialism HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while oth ...

, a largely defunct movement that denied the existence of HIV or its role in causing AIDS, he has encouraged high standards in scientific publishing, critiquing

predatory publishing Predatory publishing, also write-only publishing or deceptive publishing, is an exploitative academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without checking articles for quality and legitimacy, and withou ...

and other publishing practices.Jocelyn Kaiser
"ScienceInsider: U.S. Government Accuses Open Access Publisher of Trademark Infringement"
, ''Science'', 9 May 2013 He has advocated public availability of scientific data. With the emergence of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, Witwer was interviewed about the virology of the pandemic and conspiracy theories that arose around

. He is co-corresponding author of a statement by ISEV and the International Society for Gene and Cell Therapy on extracellular vesicle-based therapies for COVID-19.

Awards and honors

* 2003-2006

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

Graduate Research Fellowship * 2009 Richard T. Johnson Award, International Society for NeuroVirology * 2014 CFAR Scholar Award,

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Center for AIDS Research * 2017 Catalyst Award, Johns Hopkins University * 2021 Special Achievement Award of the

Selected works

* * * * * *

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Witwer, Kenneth 21st-century American scientists Johns Hopkins University faculty American molecular biologists American virologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century biologists