What Cytokines meeting(s) have been your favorites? Tell us about any special memories or anecdotes.There have been many great meetings for different reasons:
- Discoveries – such as witnessing the revealing of the JAK/STAT pathway from the Stark/Kerr and Darnell labs over several years and comparing their different approaches (and nomenclatures!);
- Locations – such as my one and only visit to Jerusalem and hosting the society twice in Australia – Cairns (ISICR) and my hometown of Melbourne (look out for Sydney in 2027);
- Several, isolated tales of adventure (“pleading the 5th”)
- But the standout for me was Hawaii 2022. It was the first face-to-face meeting post COVID lockdown era and Melbourne had one of the longest at 265 days!!! So, this was the first time we had seen our international family in >3years! The excitement was palpable. It brought home all the values of our Science and this Society.
What is your favorite cytokine?Interferon epsilon (IFNε)
Please tell us your name, degree, where you currently work, and the position.
Paul Hertzog, B.Sc (Honours), Ph.D., The University of Melbourne
Lab Head (Interferon and innate immune signaling), Centre for innate immunity & infectious Diseases (CiiiD), Hudson Institute for Medical Research, CiiiD Founder and head (2000 – 2022)
Deputy Director, Hudson Institute of Medical Research (2010 – 2024)
Where did you do your training?
University of Melbourne, Department of Pathology
Briefly, what is your research about?
I am generally interested in the type I IFNs – the molecular basis of how they can either contribute to or protect against disease. This covers the whole gambit of signal transduction, from how IFNs interact with receptors to the genes whose expression they induce or suppress. In recent years, a significant part of my lab is investigating an unusual IFN we discovered and designated IFN epsilon (IFNε). Unlike other type I IFNs, IFNε is expressed constitutively in mucosal epithelium of organs like the female reproductive tract, where we have demonstrated a role in protection against bacterial and viral infections and cancer.
Tell us your thoughts about ICIS: how has being involved in the Cytokine Society help your career?
ICIS and BOTH its predecessors (ICS! and ISICR!) have been crucial to the successful development of my career – mainly via its annual conferences. Their obvious value lies in providing a platform to present our work and get feedback, hear the latest developments in our fields, meet and get to know other scientists, reviewers, editors. Also learn of cutting-edge technologies. Formal sessions and the informal ones, preferably over a beer, can provide advanced knowledge, sharpen opinions through debate. For me, this has been a source of: friends, collaborators, co-applicants. reviewers, referees, recruits from post-docs to Institute directors and a place for our students and emerging scientists to launch their international careers. Particularly for scientists from remote countries like me in Australia, a focused Society such as ICIS, with its own values and size provide an opportunity to know and be known internationally. “Out of sight – out of mind” is a reality that can be avoided by regular attendance at conferences such as the annul ICIS helps to “put you in the picture” to be chosen as reviewers, collaborators, participants. Serving on committees has value at another level -you can contribute back to the Society and hone your leadership craft.
Are there any particular friendships or collaborations that came specifically out of Cytokines meetings?
Many over 30 + years. By no means comprehensive, some notable ones who I met through the Society include: Luke O’Neill, Andy Gearing, Eleanor Fish, Kate Fitzgerald, Tom Lavoie and colleagues at PBL Assay Sciences, Bryan Williams, etc.
What Cytokines meeting(s) have been your favourites? Tell us about any special memories or anecdotes.
There have been many great meetings for different reasons:
- Discoveries – such as witnessing the revealing of the JAK/STAT pathway from the Stark/Kerr and Darnell labs over several years and comparing their different approaches (and nomenclatures!);
- Locations – such as my one and only visit to Jerusalem and hosting the society twice in Australia – Cairns (ISICR) and my hometown of Melbourne (look out for Sydney in 2027);
- Several, isolated tales of adventure (“pleading the 5th”)
- But the standout for me was Hawaii 2022. It was the first face-to-face meeting post COVID lockdown era and Melbourne had one of the longest at 265 days!!! So, this was the first time we had seen our international family in >3years! The excitement was palpable. It brought home all the values of our Science and this Society.
What do you like to do when not in the lab?
- Music – (both listening and a little playing); and
- Sport – For me the sport is Australian Rules football and my team the Melbourne Demons it’s a fast, high scoring, high impact, spectacular game; and
- Family time with Bernadette, 3 sons, their partners, one granddaughter, and labradoodle named Bobby.
What is the best life/career advice you’ve ever received?
You are only as good as your last paper (Don Metcalf)
What book or TV show are you reading/watching right now that you recommend?
As I lie in bed day 2, post left hip replacement surgery, I have been watching the Guy Ritchie directed “The Gentlemen” – excellent!
What is your favorite cytokine?
Interferon epsilon (IFNε)