Guest Editors

Oncogene (2003) 22, 5091–5092. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1206660

Dr Nancy Raab-Traub received her Bachelor of Science
from the University of Michigan in 1969 in Zoology and
her PhD in Virology from the University of Chicago in
1980, where she began her studies on the Epstein–Barr
virus (EBV), an important human tumor virus. EBV
causes lymphoma development in immunocompromised
individuals and is also linked to several major human
cancers including nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Hodg-
kin’s lymphoma. Several of the cancers linked to EBV
occur with endemic patterns of incidence, suggesting
that environmental or genetic factors also contribute to
the development of these tumors.

Her earlier work analysed variation in the viral
genome in tumors from various regions and also
characterized EBV expression in the various malignan-
cies associated with EBV. These studies contributed to
the identification of the viral proteins that have potent
effects on cell growth and regulation. She has shown
that the viral protein LMP1 activates NFkB in epithelial
and lymphoid cells, and in epithelial cells specifically
activates expression of the epidermal growth factor.
Recent studies of the viral protein LMP2 have shown
that it activates the Akt kinase and Wnt signaling. She is
presently developing model systems to identify synergy
between the effects of expression of viral proteins in
specific cell types and cellular genetic changes. She is an
Editor of Journal of Virology and Cancer Research and

serves on the editorial boards of Virology, Molecular
Carcinogenesis, Virus Genes, and Molecular Medicine.

Dr Kamel Khalili received his PhD in Microbiology
from the University of Pennsylvania. In that setting he
was able to decipher the molecular pathway that leads to
the inhibition of host gene expression upon infection of
cells with adenovirus. Following a postdoctoral fellow-
ship at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, he was the
recipient of a prestigious Fogarty International Scholar-
ship at the National Cancer Institute of the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He spent 3
years studying the molecular virology of polyoma-
viruses, including SV40 and JCV in the Laboratory
Molecular Virology under the direction of the late Dr
George Khoury. Results from his studies on SV40 led to
the identification of a novel viral-encoded protein
termed SELP, which is encoded by the early genome
during the late phase of the lytic cycle.

In 1987, Dr Khalili joined the faculty as an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology and the Jefferson Institute of
Molecular Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University.
In 1991, he established the Molecular Neurovirology
Section of the Jefferson Institute of Molecular Medicine.
His research focused on the molecular pathogenesis of
viral-induced neurological disorders, including progres-
sive multifocal leukoencephalopathy induced upon
reactivation of JCV in immunocompromised indivi-
duals, regulation of HIV-1 in brain cells, and molecular
pathogenesis of HIV-1 in the CNS.

Dr Nancy Raab-Traub Dr Kamel Khalili

Oncogene (2003) 22, 5091–5092
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In 1999, he established the Center for Neurovirology
and Cancer Biology at Temple University. This program
is a synergistic effort between basic science and clinical
departments. The goal of the Center is to develop a
dynamic multidisciplinary interdepartmental research
and training program for devising novel therapeutic
strategies for targeting a wide range of neurological
disorders and training of scientists. He has assembled
a group of highly qualified and motivated scientists,
who have developed research programs in the areas
of neurovirology, cancer biology and intervention,
neuroAIDS, gene therapy, molecular therapeutics, and
drug discovery and proteomics to achieve our objective.

He has authored or coauthored more than 195 papers,
which have appeared in highly regarded, peer-reviewed

journals. In 1995, Dr Khalili established the Journal of
Neuro Virology and since that time he has served
as Editor-in-Chief of this internationally distributed
journal. Dr Khalili serves on the editorial boards of
several journals, including Cancer Research and Cancer
Biology and Therapy.

Dr Khalili’s major contributions have been in the field
of molecular neurovirology as it relates to the regulation
of human neurotropic viruses (JCV, HIV), gene expres-
sion, and replication in the CNS cells. The identification
and cloning of genes of tissue-specific transcription
factors in the CNS, interaction of viral proteins with
host regulatory protein, and the role of immunomodu-
lators in the pathogenesis of diseases are examples of his
contributions.

Oncogene

Guest Editors

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	Guest Editors