Herbert W. Virgin Explained

Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin
Birth Place:	Miami, Florida
Fields:	Virology Immunology Genetics
Workplaces:	Washington University School of Medicine
Alma Mater:	Harvard University Harvard Medical School
Doctoral Advisor:	Emil Unanue
Known For:	Human virome Viral pathogenesis Autophagy

Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin was the Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology & Immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine^[1] and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.^[2] He is best known for establishing murine norovirus as a model system for studying norovirus biology, for identifying host phenotypes associated with persistent viral infections, for defining alterations to the human virome in the context of different diseases, and for elucidating the roles of autophagy and interferon-stimulated genes during viral infection.

Life

Herbert Virgin was born in Miami, Florida and studied biology at Harvard University as an undergraduate, graduating magna cum laude. He obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, with his thesis work focusing on host immune responses to Listeria monocytogenes, and completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.^[3] Following post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Bernard Fields, he joined the faculty of the Washington University School of Medicine. He remained at Washington University until 2018, most recently as Chair of the Department of Pathology & Immunology. Virgin left St. Louis to enter the biomedical industrial sector, and was succeeded as chairman by Richard J. Cote.

Selected publications

• Barton. E. White. D. Cathelyn. J. Brett-McClellan. K. Engle. M. Diamond. M. Miller. V. Virgin. H. Herpesvirus latency confers symbiotic protection from bacterial infection. Nature. 2007. 447. 7142. 326–329. 17507983 . 10.1038/nature05762. 2007Natur.447..326B. 4425405.
• Nice. T. Baldridge. M. McCune. B. Norman. J. Lazear. H. Artyomov. M. Diamond. M. Virgin. H. Interferon λ cures persistent murine norovirus infection in the absence of adaptive immunity. Science. 2015. 347. 6219. 269–273. 25431489. 10.1126/science.1258100. 4398891. 2015Sci...347..269N.
• Orchard. R. Wilen. C. Doench. J. Baldridge. M. McCune. B. Lee. Y. Lee. S. Pruett-Miller. S. Nelson. C. Fremont. D. Virgin. H. Discovery of a proteinaceous cellular receptor for a norovirus. Science. 2016. 26. 6302. 933–936. 27540007. 10.1126/science.aaf1220. 5484048. 2016Sci...353..933O.
• Norman. J. Handley. S. Baldridge. M. Droit. L. Liu. C. Keller. B. Kambal. A. Monaco. C. Zhao. G. Fleshner. P. Stappenbeck. T. McGovern. D. Keshavarzian. A. Mutlu. E. Sauk. J. Gevers. D. Xavier. R. Wang. D. Parkes. M. Virgin. H. Disease-specific alterations in the enteric viriome in inflammatory bowel disease. Cell. 2015. 160. 3. 447–460. 25619688 . 10.1016/j.cell.2015.01.002. 4312520.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Herbert Virgin IV, MD, PhD. Washington University School of Medicine. 2016-12-31.
2. Web site: Herbert W. Virgin, IV . National Academy of Sciences. 2016-12-31.
3. Web site: Herbert Virgin, M.D., Ph.D.. mBio Board of Editors. 2016-12-31.