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 The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City. It is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, which manages eig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and an expert in the field of RNA viruses. Palese built "the first genetic maps for

influenza A '' A virus'' (''IAV'') causes influenza in birds and some mammals, and is the only species of the genus ''Alphainfluenzavirus'' of the virus family ''Orthomyxoviridae''. Strains of all subtypes of influenza A virus have been isolated from wild ...

, B and C viruses, identified the function of several viral genes, ...defined the mechanism of neuraminidase inhibitors (which are now

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

-approved

antivirals Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do no ...

)" and "pioneered the field of

reverse genetics Reverse genetics is a method in molecular genetics that is used to help understand the function(s) of a gene by analysing the phenotypic effects caused by genetically engineering specific nucleic acid sequences within the gene. The process pr ...

for negative-strand RNA viruses". Furtherance of this technique has been used by Palese and his colleagues in reconstructing and studying the

pathogenicity In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ge ...

of the extinct but deadly 1918 pandemic influenza virus. Reverse genetics also assist in the development of new flu

vaccine A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.

s. 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 ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Sc ...

(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.TWiV 396: Influenza viruses with Peter Palese
July 3, 2016. He developed his interest in science later, at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

, 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 The Roche Institute of Molecular Biology was created on July 14, 1967 when John 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 creat ...

from 1970 until 1971, when he joined the Department of Microbiology at the

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 The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in ...

. In 1987 he was named chairman of the Department of Microbiology of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. When cells are infected by viruses, they respond with antiviral

interferons Interferons (IFNs, ) are a group of signaling proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of several viruses. In a typical scenario, a virus-infected cell will release interferons causing nearby cells to heighten the ...

. 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.

Honors and awards

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 The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founde ...

(2006). He has served the presidencies of the Harvey Society from 2003 to 2004 and the American Society of Virology from 2005 to 2006. In 2014, he was elected Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

. He has received an honorary doctorate from both

Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate S ...

(2014) and

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

(2016). *

Robert Koch Prize The Robert Koch Medal and Award are two prizes awarded annually by the German for excellence in the biomedical sciences. These awards grew out of early attempts by German physician Robert Koch to generate funding to support his research into the ...

(2006). * Charles C. Shepard Science Award (2006 and 2008). *

Wilhelm Exner Medal The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, (ÖGV), for excellence in research and science since 1921. The medal is dedicated to Wilhelm Exner (1840–1931), former president of the Association, who initialize ...

(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 The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

(2016).

Publications

Partial List: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

The Mount Sinai Hospital homepageThe Mount Sinai School of Medicine homepageThe Palese Laboratory
at the Mount Sinai Medical Center
Swine flu discussion with Dr. Peter Palese
on ''Give and Take'' with

Julie Menin Julie Menin (born October 6, 1967) is a member of the New York City Council from District 5. Before she was elected to this position, she served as an American attorney, civil servant, non-profit executive, professor and small business owner. ...

A roundtable discussion about the avian flu

Laurie Garrett Laurie Garrett (born 1951) is an American science journalist and author. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1996 for a series of works published in '' Newsday'' that chronicled the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire. Bi ...

, Harvey V. Fineberg, Peter Palese and

Paul Nurse Sir Paul Maxime Nurse (born 25 January 1949) is an English geneticist, former President of the Royal Society and Chief Executive and Director of the Francis Crick Institute. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along ...

on '' Charlie Rose'', March 22, 2008.
Swine Flu: H1N1
Interview with Dr. Peter Palese on 60 Minutes
TWiV 396: Influenza viruses with Peter Palese
July 3, 2016. Interview with Vincent Racaniello on his career in virology, from early work on neuraminidases to universal influenza virus vaccines. {{DEFAULTSORT:Palese, Peter American virologists Influenza researchers Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty University of Vienna alumni Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art 1944 births American microbiologists Members of the National Academy of Medicine