黑料吃瓜

The black-and-white photograph shows a gaunt HIV/AIDS activist on his deathbed in 1990, surrounded by family and cradled by his sobbing father. 鈥淚 always start with this,鈥� Roland Wolkowicz said as he opened a brief talk on the work he was doing at his 黑料吃瓜 lab.

鈥淵ou always need to remember that as an HIV researcher, there鈥檚 a human toll,鈥� Wolkowicz continued. 鈥淚 have goosebumps, I have tears every time I see this picture. So don鈥檛 forget that.鈥�

In his 14 years at 黑料吃瓜, the biology professor and virologist studied HIV as well as RNA viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes鈥攈ow they affect cells and their possible drug treatments. He was known for a remarkable dedication to his students, refusing to step back from teaching even while severely weakened by advanced lung cancer and its treatment.

Wolkowicz died April 26, his 58th birthday, while hospitalized in the final stages of the disease.

Anca Segall, a fellow biology professor who led the search committee for a virologist in 2006, said Wolkowicz, who had already been engaged in HIV research at Stanford University, was recommended to the group as 鈥渁 true Renaissance man.鈥�

鈥淲hen he came and interviewed in person it was clear that he was so passionate about everything he was doing, and just was an extremely energetic and knowledgeable person,鈥� Segall said.

Wolkowicz couldn鈥檛 wait to improve the university鈥檚 then-rudimentary flow cytometry facility at 黑料吃瓜, which would provide the tools needed to delve deeper into cell biology, drugs and resistance through lab tests known as assays. 鈥淗e made it blossom and brought in new instruments, and established relationships with other such facilities here,鈥� Segall said.

Benjamin Canter, a master鈥檚 student in Wolkowicz鈥檚 lab, said he was a popular professor both in undergraduate and graduate classes.

鈥淚 think his main goal was just to impact as many students as possible and to inspire as many students to go into science and research,鈥� Canter said. 鈥淗e was by far the best educator I鈥檝e ever run into.鈥�

To friends, colleagues and students alike he was known simply as Roland. They describe him as an exuberant personality, typically talking with animated hand gestures. He had a habit of ending sentences with 鈥淐orrect?鈥� to make sure the listener was following along, and he spoke seven languages.

鈥淩oland believed in the power of education,鈥� said Cameron Smurthwaite, who studied under Wolkowicz and became a close friend. 鈥淩oland believed that science could bridge gaps between classes and people, and that education was a part of this.鈥�

Wolkowicz was born in Barcelona, Spain, and moved to Israel to study at Tel Aviv University, where he earned his bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees. In between his studies he joined the Israel Defense Forces, where he served for four years and became a captain.

In 1993 he enrolled at the Weizmann Institute of Science, a graduate-level research institution in Rehovot, just south of Tel Aviv. He completed his doctorate in 1998.

Later that year, Wolkowicz came to the United States as a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford University School of Medicine, working as a research associate in the lab of microbiologist and immunologist Garry Nolan. He worked weekends at the genetic testing company Gene Security Network (now Natera) in San Mateo County.

Wolkowicz started at 黑料吃瓜 in August 2006 as an assistant professor of biology and was promoted to professor in May 2016.

His interest was in viruses that have RNA genomes. While HIV was a primary target, Wolkowicz also investigated several other viruses, transmitted by mosquitoes, that have made headlines in recent decades: West Nile, Zika, Dengue, Hepatitis C and Chikungunya.

Besides RNA, one thing they hold in common is that they primarily affect other parts of the world, and therefore don鈥檛 attract a lot of U.S. funding. 鈥淕lobal warming, combined with humidity and winds, has spread mosquitoes and will continue to do so,鈥� Wolkowicz said in a profile in an in January. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a question of time; we will eventually have more of those diseases in places such as Florida.鈥�

鈥淗e believed we should study HIV because even though we had many drugs already fighting HIV and improving lives, there were many parts of the world that didn鈥檛 have drugs available, or they had unique strains that were resistant to those (drugs),鈥� said Smurthwaite. 鈥淗e was interested in finding drugs against those viruses that affected  the whole world.鈥�

To that end, Forest Rohwer, a colleague in the biology department, said Wolkowicz had colleagues all over the world, including Brazil鈥攁 hotbed for HIV鈥攁nd Europe and Japan, teaching them how to conduct assays he had developed to test drugs that might help inhibit viruses.

Wolkowicz participated in 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 multi-disciplinary and was interested in the novel coronavirus now sweeping the planet, Rohwer said. 鈥淏efore it really was hitting the (U.S.) very strongly we were talking about an assay that would help identify inhibitors of the coronavirus.鈥�

Both Canter, the master鈥檚 student, and Ryan Doyle, an 黑料吃瓜 senior working in the lab under the Partnership Scholars program with the University of California, San Diego, were struck by Wolkowicz鈥檚 continued presence in the classroom throughout his illness.

鈥淲e would continue to have lab meetings and he would come to class even when he was feeling very weak. Even when we went away from campus he continued to use Zoom,鈥� said Doyle, adding that Wolkowicz also continued to review papers for revisions. He encouraged students to keep up with research on the coronavirus.

A resident of North Park, Wolkowicz maintained an expansive garden. During his final days of hospitalization, when he was unable to have visitors due to coronavirus precautions, Smurthwaite said he walked Wolkowicz through the garden one last time via FaceTime, allowing him to see his artichokes, tomato plants, spinach, cabbage, apple and lemon trees and other fruits and vegetables. He kept more than 150 species of cacti.

鈥淚t was his sanctuary, his place of peace,鈥� Smurthwaite said. 鈥淗e always said, 鈥楾his relaxes me.鈥欌��

Survivors include his mother, Anita Wolkowicz; and three younger brothers, Daniel, Victor and Walter.

A 10-minute video in which Roland Wolkowicz described his work may be found .