Malik Peiris

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Joseph Malik Sriyal Peiris, FRS, Légion d'Honneur was born in Sri Lanka and studied medicine at the University of Ceylon. This was followed by the award of a PhD at the William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, U.K., where he made significant discoveries on the mechanism of dengue virus pathogenesis.[1] After further work in the U.K. and Sri Lanka, he founded a virology laboratory at Queen Mary Hospital, (which is part of the University of Hong Kong ), in 1995.

After the first outbreak of avian influenza virus H5N1 in humans in Hong Kong in 1997, Professor Peiris's attention was turned to the virus, which claimed the lives of one third of its victims. Research in his laboratory showed that the virus induces high levels of chemicals called cytokines when it infects a type of white blood cell. This was later shown to correlate with high levels of cytokines in infected humans.[2] This so-called "cytokine storm" is now recognised as a major mechanism of avian influenza virus pathogenesis.[3]

In 2003, Hong Kong suffered another virus outbreak, this time from an unknown respiratory disease, termed SARS.[4] Malik became known worldwide when his laboratory was the first to isolate the virus,[5] a novel coronavirus (CoV), now known as SARS-CoV.[6]

Joseph Malik Sriyal Peiris, PhD, has been the scientific director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong.[7] Malik Peiris[8] is also notable for having isolated the causal agent for the respiratory infection SARS in early 2003.[9][10]

Malik continues to work at the University of Hong Kong and was recently appointed as the scientific director of the Hong Kong University-Pasteur Institute.[citation needed] He is also the first Sri Lankan to be elected to the Royal Society of London, the highest scientific honour in the Commonwealth. His other honors include being decorated as Knight of the Légion d'Honneur of France on October 15, 2007.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peiris JS, Porterfield JS (1979). "Antibody-mediated enhancement of Flavivirus replication in macrophage-like cell lines". Nature 282 (5738): 509–11. doi:10.1038/282509a0. PMID 503230. 
  2. ^ de Jong MD, Simmons CP, Thanh TT, et al (2006). "Fatal outcome of human influenza A (H5N1) is associated with high viral load and hypercytokinemia". Nat. Med. 12 (10): 1203–7. doi:10.1038/nm1477. PMID 16964257. 
  3. ^ Salomon R, Hoffmann E, Webster RG (2007). "Inhibition of the cytokine response does not protect against lethal H5N1 influenza infection". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104 (30): 12479–81. doi:10.1073/pnas.0705289104. PMID 17640882. 
  4. ^ Sampathkumar P, Temesgen Z, Smith TF, Thompson RL (2003). "SARS: epidemiology, clinical presentation, management, and infection control measures". Mayo Clin. Proc. 78 (7): 882–90. PMID 12839084. 
  5. ^ Peiris JS, Lai ST, Poon LL, et al (2003). "Coronavirus as a possible cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome". Lancet 361 (9366): 1319–25. PMID 12711465. 
  6. ^ Lau YL, Peiris JS (2005). "Pathogenesis of severe acute respiratory syndrome". Curr. Opin. Immunol. 17 (4): 404–10. doi:10.1016/j.coi.2005.05.009. PMID 15950449. 
  7. ^ "Visit of the Grand Chancellor of the Légion d’honneur", Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, 2007, webpage: FHK17: (states "Lap Chee Tsui and Pr Malik Peiris, scientific director of HKU-Pasteur Research Centre received the award of Knight").
  8. ^ His name is typically as "Malik Peiris".
  9. ^ "Up Close and Personal With SARS", Dennis Normile, Science, Vol. 300, p.886, May 2003, webpage: SMag86.
  10. ^ "Features", Daily News (online), June 2006, webpage: DailyNews-fea01: contains "Following the discovery of the cause of SARS, Professor Peiris was invited...".

[edit] External links

  • "Features", Daily News (online), June 2006, webpage: DailyNews-fea01: contains "Following the discovery of the cause of SARS, Professor Peiris was invited...".