Rocky Mountain Laboratories (Hamilton, MT) Scientist, Sonja Best, receives national honor for virus research

Rocky Mountain Laboratories scientist Sonja Best recently won the highest award in the world of virology.

Best, a visiting fellow at the Hamilton campus, received the fourth annual Norman P. Salzman Memorial Award in Virology for her research on Aleutian mink disease. In the science community, the award is the top kudo for a fellow working on viruses in the National Institutes of Health, according to Marshall Bloom, associate director of RML.

by JENNY JOHNSON Staff Reporter Ravalli Republic

Best has been studying the bug since 1999, when she came to the Hamilton campus. While the virus doesn’t affect humans and is fatal only in Aleutian mink, the research done by Best has far-reaching interest, she said. Besides the disease’s affects in natural mink populations in Europe, the research highlights a model of a disease caused by a persistent infecting virus.

This particular virus, in the parvo family of viruses, is novel in the way it uses the cell death process to replicate itself, Best said. While other viruses try to inhibit the cell death process, this virus uses the process to its advantage.

"So now we know that the virus is using the cell death program to replicate itself, we want to know how exactly that is going on," she said.

Best’s research aims to characterize how the proteins that are active during that process are acting with the virus proteins.

"Every time you come up with one answer, it just formulates the next question," she said.

The emphasis of the award, which was presented in November, is on creativity and the mentoring process, Best said. Bloom received an award in conjunction with Best as her mentor.

The Salzman award and presentation is a part of the Norman P. Salzman Symposium in Virology organized by the National Institutes of Health’s virology interest group. The group, composed of researchers from NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, Rockefeller University, Rutgers University and Vanderbilt University, selects the award recipients.

Norman Salzman was a pioneer in the field of molecular virology whose career spanned 33 years at NIH.

Best has been conducting research at RML’s laboratory of persistent viral diseases, a branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A native of Australia, she received her bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University of Adelaide in Australia and a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Australian National University. Her graduate work focused on the pathogenesis of myxoma virus in genetically susceptible and resistant populations of European rabbits.

Reporter Jenny Johnson can be reached at 363-3300 or [email protected].

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