Scribd
Upload
58 views2 pages

Kamel Khalili 2010 Pioneer in Neurovirology: Jennifer Gordon PH.D., Philadelphia, Pa

Dr. Kamel Khalili is Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Director of the Center for NeuroVirology at Temple University school of medicine in Philadelphia. He is the eighth recipient of this award and the first Pioneer who was not trained as a clinician.

Uploaded by

Stephan Lewis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
58 views2 pages

Kamel Khalili 2010 Pioneer in Neurovirology: Jennifer Gordon PH.D., Philadelphia, Pa

Dr. Kamel Khalili is Chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Director of the Center for NeuroVirology at Temple University school of medicine in Philadelphia. He is the eighth recipient of this award and the first Pioneer who was not trained as a clinician.

Uploaded by

Stephan Lewis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Oct 2010

Special Issue

Editor: Dianne Langford, Ph.D.


Associate Editor: Michael Nonnemacher, Ph.D.
Assistant: Leslie Marshall, Ph.D.

Kamel Khalili
2010 Pioneer in NeuroVirology
Jennifer Gordon Ph.D., Philadelphia, PA

he International Society for NeuroVirology has honored Dr. Kamel Khalili


with the 2010 Pioneer in NeuroVirology Award for his numerous and outstanding contributions to the field. Dr. Khalili is Chair of the Department of
Neuroscience and Director of the Center for NeuroVirology at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He is the eighth recipient of this
award and the first Pioneer who was not trained as a clinician.
Dr. Khalili received his Ph.D. from the Department of Microbiology at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 followed by a postdoctoral fellowship
at the Wistar Institute. He first became interested in eukaryotic gene transcription and translation while working in the laboratory of Dr. Roberto Weinmann at Wistar. In the early 1980's, he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in
Molecular Virology in one of the top laboratories studying eukaryotic gene
regulation at NCI under the direction of Dr. George Khoury. There he began
to focus on temporal gene expression comparing the constitutive activity of
the SV40 promoter sequences with the more restricted activity of the recently
isolated JC virus promoter as a model for tissue-specific gene regulation
and viral tropism. After completing a three year Fogarty Scholarship at NCI,
Dr. Khalili landed his first faculty position at Thomas Jefferson University in
Philadelphia in 1987. He has since remained in Philadelphia subsequently
expanding his research group into a division (at Thomas Jefferson University), a Center (at Drexel University), and finally as a Department (at Temple
University).
Dr. Khalili continued his work on JC virus (JCV) and the rare demyelinating disease with which it is associated, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), which was becoming increasingly more common with
the spread of HIV-1 infection. He began to focus attention on understanding
the possible interaction between JCV and HIV-1 that may lead to a higher
incidence of PML among AIDS patients. Through these studies, he demonstrated for the first time TAR-independent Tat transactivation of the HIV-1
LTR as well as Tat transactivation of the JCV promoter. In the process, he

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
JOSEPH BERGER, USA

JOAN BERMAN, USA

RUTH BRACK-WERNER, GERMANY

BRUCE BREW, AUSTRALIA

SHILPA BUCH, USA

JANICE E. CLEMENTS, USA

ANTONINA DOLEI, ITALY

PASQUALE FERRANTE, ITALY

ROBERT FUJINAMI, USA

JENNIFER GORDON, USA

IGOR GRANT, USA

ALAN JACKSON, CANADA

STEVEN JACOBSON, USA

PETER KENNEDY, UK

KAMEL KHALILI, USA

IGOR KORALNIK, USA

MAHENDRA KUMAR, USA

MONIQUE LAFON, FRANCE

EHUD LAVI, USA

AVINDRA NATH, USA

LYNN PULLIAM, USA

WALTER ROYAL, III, USA

MINEKI SAITO, JAPAN

ISRAEL STEINER, ISRAEL

DAVID VOLSKY, USA

BRIAN WIGDAHL, USA

has identified the involvement of many host transcription factors


and regulatory proteins that participate in expression of JCV and
HIV-1 and novel mechanisms of viral-viral interaction and cross
talk in the CNS.
Always interested in translating his in vitro findings to the in
vivo setting, he has investigated JCV gene expression using
transgenic mice containing the gene for JCV T-antigen under the
control of the natural JCV promoter. While some mice have a demyelinating phenotype, they more frequently develop nervous
system tumors and these mice provided the first evidence that the
JCV T-antigen alone could transform cells in vivo. The characterization of the JCV T-antigen mouse models led Dr. Khalili to
embark on a series of studies investigating panels of brain tumors
for the presence of JCV. Determined to use a multidisciplinary
approach to lend credence to the findings, he has detected viral
DNA and the expression of viral T-antigen and Agnoprotein in a
broad range of neural and non-neural tumors. Dr. Khalili suggests
these findings point to an association between JCV and human
tumors. Despite his cautiousness to ascribe a contributing role
for JCV in human cancer at this stage, he has aggressively pursued the underlying mechanisms whereby JCV T-antigen and
Agnoprotein may transform cells using the viral proteins as a powerful tool to uncover weaknesses in the cells that are exploited by
JCV.

Dr. Khalili's scholarly pursuits and mentorship in the field cannot be ignored. Early in his career, he quickly took on responsibility
for mentorship and training of graduate students and M.D./Ph.D.
students who are always attracted to the vibrant and dynamic laboratory environment he continues to maintain as his small laboratory has grown into a department. He has trained over eighteen
graduate students, sixteen M.D./Ph.D. students, thirty-two postdoctoral fellows and eighteen visiting scholars, as well as having
served as a friend and mentor to countless colleagues in the field.
Stimulated by discussion around the table with colleagues at an
international conference about the lack of a forum specifically for
publishing neurovirology-oriented work, Dr. Khalili created the Journal of NeuroVirology in 1994 and organized the first International
Symposium on NeuroVirology held in Philadelphia in 1998, which
led to the establishment of the International Society for NeuroVirology the same year. He has served as founding Treasurer of the
ISNV, as Editor on comprehensive texts on polyomaviruses and
viral oncology, and as organizer of many conferences and workshops around the world. Dr. Khalili has authored over 340 scholarly publications in highly regarded journals. Through his
leadership, commitment, and tireless dedication, he will continue
to serve as a role model and mentor to many throughout the field
of neurovirology.

Past recipients of the Pioneer in NeuroVirology Award

Contact the ISNV Administrative office at:


Tel: (215) 707-9788

Fax: (215) 707-9838

Email: [email protected]

www.isnv.org

ISNV Newsletter printed by the Center for Scientific Communication and Outreach:Director, Michael Nonnemacher, Ph.D.

You might also like