Who we are: Alice Telesnitsky
Alice with three of her previous graduate students: Wenfeng An, who is now an endowed professor at South Dakota State, Eric Garcia, who is on the faculty at the University of Kentucky, and Clement Ndongmo, who coordinates West African surveillance of infectious pathogens for the CDC
Greetings from Alice Telesnitsky, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology.
I grew up in California and I did my 'K through Ph.D' in the California public schools, including a BS in Genetics from UC Davis, and my Ph.D. in Biochemistry from UC Berkeley with Mike Chamberlin, where I studied bacterial gene expression. I entered grad school five years late because I took time off after college to bum around Japan and to work in biotech (Genentech. Before coming to Michigan, I was a postdoc in New York City for 5 years in Steve Goff's lab, where I performed structure-function studies on reverse transcriptase. Because my interests were moving toward RNA, as soon as I was eligible, I performed sabbatical studies with Joan Steitz at Yale, and more recently I performed a second sabbatical: half with Alan Zahler and half with Britt Glaunsinger. You can hear more about my "scientific upbringing" in the keynote lecture I gave at the 2021 Cold Spring Harbor Retroviruses meeting. All these experiences have helped me in my career in science.
Other affiliations
Besides the Microbiology and Immunology Department, I am a member of a number of centers and training programs here at Michigan, such as Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Cellular Biotechnology Training Program. I've been part of the U of M Cancer Center for many years and I am the Director of the Center for HIV RNA Studies (CRNA), an NIH-Supported multidisciplinary collaboration among over 20 research groups interested in studying aspects of the HIV replication cycle that involve RNA. In addition to performing cutting edge interdisciplinary work on RNA structure, function, and dynamics in an area of high biomedical significance (HIV/AIDS), a priority of the Center is on training the next generation of biomedical scientists. You can read about our research on subsequent pages, and learn about all the virology labs at Michigan through our virology portal page.
You can learn about the members of the team here. We also benefit from a number of interdepartmental group meetings and data clubs focused on virology, RNA, retrotransposable elements, and genome evolution.
My philosophy
I believe that science is too much work for anyone to undertake unless they truly enjoy it. Despite the work, science can be the doorway to an incredibly fun life. Who else gets to play with cool toys in the lab, travel to exotic places just to chat with like-minded people, and spend more or less all their time exploring and doing whatever they like (provided they can convince someone to pay for it)?
I am benefiting greatly from my life in science and try to give back in small ways. Among my current and recent service activities to the scientific community are serving as Chair of the Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program here at Michigan, during which time I established a M&I/Epidemiology dual degree program to serve students who wish to pursue carriers where their expertise in molecular mechanisms of infectious disease benefit public health. I serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Virology, do lots of ad hoc inter- and intramural reviewing for the NIH, and was a standing member of the NIH AIDS Molecular and Cellular Biology study section. I started and direct a program called MIDIS, which is aimed at increasing the participation of talented scientists from disease endemic nations in biomedical research. I also worked with colleagues in the field to establish an award for distinguished postdoctoral retrovirologists as they embark on independent research careers, that honors the memory of our late colleague and friend, Andrew Kaplan.
Although science can seem more like a magical voyage of discovery than a destination, it's important to maintain focus and reach milestones such as producing publishable results. I impose requirements on my trainees such as frequent oral presentations and twice-yearly written reports to help keep us all on track. Of course, it's probably because I have been able to start with exceedingly intelligent and diligent students, but I am proud to see that the people from my laboratory are doing great in science. Sure, I get a bit jealous whenever it becomes apparent that one of my trainees' careers is taking off faster than mine, but isn't that what being a mentor is all about?
Contact information
phone 734 936 6466
lab phone 734 763 9424
fax 734 764 3562
lab location 6714 Med. Sci. II
University of Michigan Medical School
Mail or FEDEX address:
1150 W. Medical Center Dr. Rm. 5641
Ann Arbor MI 48109-5620
aka Alice Wieland