DESCRIPTION

After a 15-year focus on the biology of hepatitis B virus family, the modern-day microbe hunter Don Ganem turned his attention to KSHV, the herpes virus that is the cause of the AIDS-related neoplasm Kaposi sarcoma (KS). Ushma Neill of the Journal of Clinical Investigation interviews Ganem to talk about his lab at UCSF, which was the first to cultivate and develop tests for KSHV. After nearly 30 years in academia, in 2010, Ganem (Figure 1) left for industry and is currently the Vice-President and Global Head for Infectious Disease for the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research.