Vincent Racaniello
| Vincent R. Racaniello | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
January 2, 1953 Paterson, New Jersey |
| Citizenship | American |
| Fields |
Microbiology Immunology Virology |
| Institutions | Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons |
| Alma mater |
Cornell University (B.A.) (1974) Mount Sinai Medical Center (Ph.D) (1980) MIT (Post-doctoral) |
| Known for | CD155 (poliovirus receptor, PVR) |
Vincent R. Racaniello (born January 2, 1953 in Paterson, New Jersey) is a Higgins Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is one of four virologists who has recently authored Principles of Virology, a textbook used by many teaching virology to undergraduate, medical and graduate students.
As an esteemed member of the scientific community, Racaniello has received several awards including Irma T. Hirschl, Searle Scholars, Eli Lilly and NIH Merit. He has also been a Harvey Society Lecturer at Rockefeller University, the Hilleman Lecturer at the University of Chicago, and University Lecturer at Columbia University. Racaniello has served on the editorial boards of scientific journals, including the Journal of Virology, and is a community editor for the open access journal PLOS Pathogens. He also served as the 2015 president of the American Society for Virology.
Racaniello graduated from Cornell University in 1974 (BA, biological sciences) and completed his PhD in the laboratory of Peter Palese in 1980, studying genetic reassortment of influenza virus. As a post-doctoral fellow in David Baltimore's laboratory at MIT (1979–1982), Racaniello used recombinant DNA technology to clone and sequence the genome of the small RNA animal virus poliovirus. Using these tools he generated the first infectious clone of an animal RNA virus. Construction of the infectious clone revolutionized modern virology.
Racaniello established his own research laboratory at Columbia University in the fall of 1982. The aim of his laboratory is to understand replication and pathogenesis of small RNA animal viruses Picornaviruses. The life cycle of a virus begins with its attachment to and entry into the cytoplasm of a cell. His laboratory identified CD155 (poliovirus receptor, PVR); a cell surface protein, and member of the immunoglobin superfamily as the protein that mediates this process. Understanding how the interaction between virus and cell alters the viral particle and how virus entry is facilitated by the interaction has helped elucidate the means by which poliovirus infection is initiated.
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