Leor Weinberger

Leor S. Weinberger, Ph.D. is an American virologist and quantitative biologist whose research[1] opened a new area of inquiry[2] into the use of HIV as a model system to study stochastic fluctuations ('noise') in gene expression. He is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco and an investigator at the Gladstone Institutes.[3]

Research

Weinberger's work has been referred to as "part of what some scientists are calling a 'renaissance' in viral therapy" by the San Francisco Chronicle.[4] According to Wired, Weinberger has pioneered research to combat HIV by creating "therapeutic interfering particles" or "TIPs". The "TIPs" would pass from person to person with an HIV infection, and "by out-competing HIV for cellular resources, the TIPs might slow its progression and lower infection rates."[5]

Weinberger's work has also proposed targeting 'noise' as a therapy for HIV and to reprogram cells in general.[6]

Awards and honors

Weinberger was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences in 2008[7] and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow in 2011.[8] He was awarded the NIH Director's New Innovator Award in 2009[9] and the NIH Director's Pioneer Award in 2013.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Weinberger, Leor (July 29, 2005). "Stochastic Gene Expression in a Lentiviral Positive- Feedback Loop: HIV-1 Tat Fluctuations Drive Phenotypic Diversity". Cell 122: 169–82. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.06.006.
  2. ↑ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, July 29, 2005. http://www.hhmi.org/news/random-gene-expression-may-drive-hiv-hiding
  3. ↑ Gladstone Institute, April 2015, http://gladstoneinstitutes.org/scientist/weinberger
  4. ↑ Erin Allday, January 23rd, 2013. "Viruses engineered to attack themselves", San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Viruses-engineered-to-attack-themselves-4233236.php
  5. ↑ Dave Mosher, March 1st, 2011. "Piggyback Virus Could Cure HIV Pandemic", Wired. http://www.wired.com/2011/03/virus-therapy-hiv/
  6. ↑ Tan and Elledge Genome Medicine 2014, 6:55. http://genomemedicine.com/content/6/1/55
  7. ↑ Pew Charitable Trusts, April 2015. http://directory.pewscholars.org/scholars/2008-094/
  8. ↑ Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, April 2015. http://www.sloan.org/fileadmin/media/files/goroff/2011_srf_nytimes_ad_vf.pdf
  9. ↑ National Institute of Health, April 2015. http://commonfund.nih.gov/arra/newinnovator
  10. ↑ National Institute of Health, April 2015. http://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer/Recipients13
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