User:Katzelab/sandbox

Michael G. Katze
Dr. Katze received the Graduate Citation Award, presented at the graduate Alumni research forum in conjunction with discovery 2015.

When younger he never thought of graduate school. however, 30 years after graduating from Hahnemann University with with a phD in microbiology, he is recognized nationally as an virologist. He has mentored young scientist along the way. Katze was pre-dental as an undergraduate at Boston University. He then dropped out of the dental program at the university of pennsylvania a year later. Katze moved to Paris with his then-wife, a phD candidate in art history. After living in Paris for a few years, he moved back to the city in 1976. He began working as a technician in the penn dental labs, studying the herpes virus. During the same time he was working at the Wistar institute studying rabies. Once introduced to virology he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He enrolled Hahnemann University’s doctoral program in microbiology and immunology, and graduated in 1980. “ It has always fascinated me how these viruses... which are so incredibly simple in terms of their genetic structure… can cause so much disease, so much death, so much economic damage”. Professor of Microbiology Today Katze is a professor of microbiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, an associate director in molecular science and core staff member scientist at the Washington National Primate Research Center. He directs a lab of over 35 people. His enthusiasm for learning about viruses has only grown over the years. Katze is internationally recognized for his scientific achievements. He’s most proud of his research into the role the host plays in viruses manifestation. Most virologist study a virus in isolation. Katze had one of the first labs to investigate the host response. “ They’re so much more clever… a little virus can get in there and cause a lot of trouble”. For any given virus, there is a spectrum of responses: the infected person could die; become sick and recover; or show no sign of infection. It's a fascinating time to be a virologist, Katze says. Because of airplane travel, deforestation, and climate change, the world has become a much smaller place. Viruses that once were contained to a localized area are now able to migrate more freely. Basic science research has led to important discoveries. 10-20 years ago, a scientist could study yeast, worms, or flies because of the “incredible biological insight that you got”. Katze’s says, if you write a grant and you don’t say ‘i want to validate this i primates’ it can be difficult to get a grant funded. “ i feel really lucky that i’ve been able to do this for so many years and be so successful”. The field is transforming; therefore the questions are changing, and the questions have to be more applied. “Congress is pragmatic, but they are not scientists,” Katze says. The NIH response is to become a more applied and translational world. Katze says there is still a need to be versed in basic science. The “discovery of basic research, whether it be in flies or worms, has led to incredible discoveries in something else,” he says.

http://viromics.washington.edu