Affiliation: Consultant and Advisor for Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s hospital

Dr. Hallak is a scientist and entrepreneur with interests in molecular biology, gene therapy, and related fields. He serves as an advisor on the boards of two biotechnology companies and a consultant for several institutions including Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s hospital. His initial work was focused on understanding the mechanisms of negative-strand RNA virus interaction and entry into susceptible cells. This led to the discovery that certain cell-surface anchored carbohydrates play an important role in respiratory syncytial virus attachment and subsequent entry to the cell as opposed to the more common protein-protein interaction route between viral glycoproteins and cell surface receptors. He used this extensive examination of virus-cell interaction and the reverse genetics of negative-strand RNA viruses to design recombinant viral vectors based on the vaccine strain of measles virus for targeting tumors and resulting in the successful creation of one of the first targeted live replicating viral vectors for gene therapy. As a byproduct of working with viral genomes, Dr. Hallak invented URMAC, a set of fast and reliable PCR-based methods for cloning and mutagenesis of large DNA plasmids containing intact viral genomes in vitro. He is an alumnus of Rush University, Chicago, IL, and Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.