9th Joint Meeting ISICR-ICS Cytokines & Interferons: From the ...

An Interview with...
2010 ISICR Milstein Award Winner:
SERGEI KOTENKO
Sergei V. Kotenko is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular
Biology at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. He obtained his M.S. degree in Biophysics from
Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Department of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in
1985. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 1990 from the Institute for Genetics of
Microorganisms, Department of Biotechnology, Laboratory of Eukaryotic Gene Structure, Moscow,
Russia. In 1992 he joined the laboratory of Dr. Sidney Pestka in the Department of Molecular
Genetics & Microbiology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, NJ, USA, as a
Postdoctoral Fellow and later as an Adjunct Assistant Professor. In 2001 Dr. Kotenko moved to
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and started his own laboratory in the Department of
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Dr. Kotenko’s laboratory is now a part of the recently
established University Hospital Cancer Center.
Congratulations on receiving the Milstein Award this year!
How did you first find out and where were you?
I was in my office when I received the email with the news
from ISICR President Leonidas Platanias.
What does the Award mean to you?
It is a great honor to be nominated and selected by your
colleagues to receive the most prestigious award of the ISICR.
I feel very fortunate.
What do you see as the most exciting new development in the
field of cancer and inflammation, one which we could
realistically harness or manipulate for therapeutic purposes in
the not-too-distant future?
That is a million-dollar question. We are lucky that we are
doing research at a time when one can learn about exciting
new developments almost every day – just talk to colleagues,
attend a conference, or read a new issue of a scientific
journal. I am intrigued by the multifaceted connection
between inflammation, innate immunity and carcinogenesis,
and the complex role of cytokines in regulating and
interconnecting these processes. Of course, I am biased
toward IFNs, and particularly type III IFNs, or IFN-lambdas,
that we recently co-discovered with scientists from
Zymogenetics. First described in 2003, these IFNs quickly
gained the interest of scientists in the field, and are already in
clinical trials for the treatment of chronic HCV infections, and
have a strong therapeutic potential for cancer treatment and
as antiviral prophylactic drugs.
What are your current priorities at your University?
My priorities are to keep my lab running smoothly, to
encourage students and research personnel to think outside
the box, and to motivate them to take bold unconventional
research directions. Maintaining research support for the lab
and finding new unexplored research venues are always on
my radar.
What do you think are some of the mandatory/key
components of a successful lab?
It is important to assemble and maintain an interactive and
dynamic research team of talented creative people who are
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