Robert J. Visalli
Contact Info
- Name
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Robert J. Visalli
- Department
- Biology
- Campus Location
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Science Building, Room 388
- Telephone
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260-481-6320
Passion for knowledge is contagious. It ignites the minds of those it touches, awakening them to new ideas, new ways of experiencing the world. Ultimately, it inspires them to become masters of their own love for learning.
At IPFW, inspiring minds is what our faculty do best. Professors like Robert Visalli pursue life-changing research every day, and in the process, motivate others to make discoveries of their own.
Visalli, an assistant professor of biology, has studied the biology of the Herpesviridae since 1986. His work has focused on eight different human herpes pathogens, all capable of causing serious illness or death, especially in people with compromised immune systems. Some of his most influential research began at Wyeth-Ayerst Research, a major pharmaceutical company, where Visalli was a full-time researcher in the 1990s. “I was asked to join that company for antiviral drug discovery for herpes viruses,” he says. “These viruses can kill people — there are more deadly pathogens than just the STD form or the cold sore that a lot of us get. My group discovered a set of antiviral compounds that inhibited a herpes virus known as varicella-zoster virus. That’s the virus that causes chicken pox and also reactivates shingles — a very serious disease.”
That discovery was especially significant because of the way the virus was inhibited. As they studied the mechanism by which herpes viruses package their DNA genomes, they found that they could prevent the virus from replicating by preventing the genes from moving into the host’s shell. That finding was unprecedented, allowing for the creation of nontoxic drugs to treat herpes patients. “Understanding this aspect of viral replication really could result in treatments for a lot of different viruses for a lot of different people,” Visalli says. “As we understand more and more about the process, we might be able to discover drugs that prevent the replication of those viruses for which there are really no good antivirals and certainly no vaccines.”
Visalli’s findings have been published in numerous scholarly journals, and he has presented his work at several academic meetings and conventions. He’s also been interviewed by various news media as an authority on the biology of viruses.
Visalli’s transition into academia in 2003 — when he became an IPFW professor — hasn’t changed his passion for research. In fact, he continues to study the same issues he explored at Wyeth. What has changed is his involvement with promising young student-biologists. “Working at Wyeth was great, but I wasn’t interacting with people the way I wanted to,” Visalli says. “I just felt it was time to change that.”
In Visalli’s lab at IPFW, students receive one-on-one mentoring and cutting-edge research experience. “Our work here involves a lot of molecular biology,” he says. “I would say the students do 90 percent of the experiments I do in my lab. It’s the same type of work that would be done at the main Purdue campus. The students are getting exposed to some really current techniques.”
They’re also learning to make their own discoveries— several have published their research findings and have been recognized with prestigious awards. For Visalli, that’s what makes his work so fulfilling: “My favorite part [of teaching] is when a student comes to my office with a piece of data in their hands, and they are the only person in the world with that piece of information at that time. They’re just incredibly excited over the discovery of something new. That’s what I like.”
