Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D.,
seeks causes for disease
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Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., seeks causes for disease |
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Hunting viruses, training
future scientists Research by Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., seeks to understand disease By Darrell E. Ward One day in 1997, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Herbert W. "Skip" Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology and immunology and of molecular microbiology, told Virgin that something odd was going on in a group of genetically altered mice. The mice, infected with a cancer-causing virus, seemed perfectly healthy but then suddenly died. Furthermore, they died only on particular days of the week. And this had happened over many months. The deaths, it turned out, occurred on days when the animals' cages were cleaned. "The mice died when they were stressed," Virgin explained.
The study was the first to suggest a link between gammaherpes viral infection and atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the aorta, and it led to important insights about how viruses manipulate the immune system during chronic infection. The event was one of many exciting and satisfying moments in Virgin's career as a researcher and teacher in the School of Medicine. Virgin came to the University in 1991 from Harvard University, where he tested out of his freshman year, graduated magna cum laude in 1977 and entered Harvard Medical School's M.D./Ph.D. program under Emil R. Unanue, M.D. Today, Unanue is the Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and head of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine. After medical school, Virgin then entered Harvard's research residency program at Brigham and Women's Hospital, followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases, which brought him to Washington University. He held a clinical appointment in medicine until 1996, when he made the difficult decision to give up clinical medicine and devote himself solely to research. Even in middle school, though, Virgin knew that he wanted to be a doctor or scientist. He grew up in southern Florida going to school, spearfishing and sailing. He comes from a sailing family, and his proficiency earned him the nickname "Skipper." He still sails during family visits to southern Florida. Virgin's father was a trial attorney, and his mother was trained in chemistry. His grandfather, an orthopedic surgeon, regularly sought better ways to care for his patients. During the summer after his junior year in high school, Virgin received a fellowship from the American Heart Association that placed him in a chemistry lab at the University of Miami. There he explored whether it was possible to change the wavelength at which certain chemicals fluoresced by fixing them to solid surfaces. By the end of the summer, he'd presented it at a scientific conference. "That solidified my interest in science," he said. Upon entering Harvard, he first attended, then taught, biology classes. The experience cut short -- temporarily -- his desire to enter medicine. "Biology didn't seem intellectually challenging. There was too much memorizing facts and not enough thinking about concepts. I thought if that's what biology is like, that's what medicine must be like also, and I lost interest in it completely."
Then one day he read a review article of the book titled Games Parasites Play, which described tricks used by pathogens to avoid being killed by the immune system. That led him to read up on immunology, where he learned of immune cells called macrophages, which creep amoeba-like through the body hunting bacteria and other pathogens. This carnivore of the immune system re-ignited his interest in medicine and led him to enter the M.D./Ph.D. program. Another interest was ignited around this time, too. One night he and some friends went to a restaurant to listen to a calypso band. They ended up sharing a table with another group of young people they'd known from high school. Virgin began talking with the woman across from him, Joan Downey. They'd met once before, formally, at a ceremony where Virgin, president of the National Honor Society's local chapter, had placed the society's pin on Downey, the new inductee. Downey left impressed by their discussion. "We talked about the bacterium E. coli. I'd never had a dinner conversation with someone about E. coli, and afterward, I went home thinking, 'That was really nice.'" Both were admitted to Harvard Medical School. They married after their first year, and graduated together. Today, Downey is assistant professor of pediatrics, director of the labor and delivery service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, pediatric director of the nursery at Barnes, and director of the antenatal consult service, which cares for women with pregnancies involving abnormal fetuses. At Harvard, Virgin did his research under the guidance of Unanue, studying the immune response to a human bacterial pathogen. But to truly understand a disease, Virgin decided he needed a pathogen he could genetically manipulate, something difficult to do then with bacteria. So he switched to viruses, working with Bernard Fields, M.D., at Harvard. He then came to Washington University with a joint appointment in medicine and in pathology and immunology. "Skip has successfully combined molecular virology with immunobiology," Unanue said. "Very few investigators can bridge both areas. In a relatively short time, he has become one of the top viral immunologists in the country. He is highly committed to his laboratory, to his trainees and to our department."
"Skip loves doing basic bench work," Allen said. "Even in his busy day, he finds time to do experiments. He's competitive in a friendly way and can identify the critical questions and figure out ways to answer them." In addition, said Allen, "he's a good parent." Virgin and Downey have three children, Whit, 11, Bret, 9, and Jaelithe, 4. Virgin relaxes by taking his kids to soccer and basketball games, and he's an assistant coach for his sons' basketball team. He also enjoys reading serious science fiction, books that have a grounding in science by writers such as Greg Bear, Gregory Benford and Isaac Asimov. As a child, he read the Lord of the Rings 13 times -- and as an adult, he enjoyed the movie. Integrating work and family is important to Virgin, both at home and at work. His laboratory includes areas for toddlers and for nursing mothers. Virgin wants his students to succeed. Among the most satisfying aspects of his job, he said, is seeing the men and women trained in his lab do well. "Skip has a clear track record for recruiting and retaining women in scientific careers," Downey said. Virgin's efforts as a mentor were recognized last year when he received the Academic Women's Network Mentorship Award. Mentoring is important, he said, because training young people well is a service to humanity. "For me, it's also payback," Virgin said. "I had very good mentors. Dr. Unanue and Bernie Fields really spent time at it, and they were extremely interested in seeing their people do well. Also, it's fun. Watching people develop is enormously enjoyable." Currently, some of his postdoctoral students are venturing with him into risky scientific territory. Virgin recently directed his work toward isolating new pathogens from tissues of patients with diseases that appear infectious but have no known link to a virus. "Pathogen discovery requires that you look hard and perhaps find nothing," he said. But such efforts are important for advancing understanding the role of viruses in human disease. Undoubtedly, Skip Virgin is the right person for the job. |
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