I am writing to offer my highest recommendation for Dr. Gilad Doitsh, a Senior Researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF. Dr. Doitsh and his team recently pioneered the development of a next-generation self-amplifying RNA vaccine for mucosal delivery. Their approach mimics viral infection of relevant tissues (e.g. respiratory tract and gut mucosa) and elicits a robust yet balanced activation of immune responses, protecting against respiratory and orofecal infections. There are many qualities that set Dr. Doitsh apart from other senior scientists. He is a creative out-of-the-box thinker, who enjoys tackling new scientific problems. He is resourceful and visionary—if the tools needed to solve a certain problem don’t already exist, he will work diligently to create them. For example, mucosal immunity has long been a "holy grail" of vaccine development; Dr. Doitsh devised a method to achieve it by combining self-amplifying viral RNA with a liposome-based packaging system to trigger immune responses in target mucosal tissues. Dr. Doitsh is also deeply passionate about science and mentoring. He invests much of his free time thinking and talking about science, and would often return to work from the weekend full of new exciting ideas. He sincerely cares for his colleagues and trainees and is actively committed to promoting both individual and team success. In summary, Dr. Doitsh is a truly outstanding scientist and mentor, who I believe will make a great addition to any academic or industry environment.

To whom it may Concern, I first met Dr. Gilad Doitsh as a postdoctoral fellow at the Gladstone Institute. Dr. Doitsh guided and mentored my research at the time since I was a new graduate student in the lab of Dr. Warner Greene. As a result of his unique and high-energy personality, his creativity, and willingness to teach others as much as possible, the team grew from being just myself and Dr. Doitsh to at least five other members working on projects that extended from his original idea. All his hard work and dedication, as well as his ability to grow and manage a whole team, lead to his promotion as an Investigator and HIV Pathogenesis leader at Gladstone Institute. In the mean time, the field as well as all the team members benefited from the fact that Dr. Doitsh did not conform to what had been blindly accepted and neglected in the HIV-1 pathogenesis field. First, he published his studies showing that CD4 T cells in the lymphoid tissue were dying as a result of abortive infection (Cell 143:789–801 2010). Then the findings that this abortive infection was causing accumulation of reverse transcribed DNA which were sensed by IFI16 (Science 343:428-432, 2014) were published. In the same year the mechanism of cell death was characterized to be pyroptosis in tonsil and in spleen derived CD4 T cells (Nature 505:509-514, 2014). Then I, along with Dr. Doitsh and several other team members published that while these events were very common in CD4 T cells derived from lymphoid tissue they were rare in blood-derived CD4 T cells (Cell Host & Microbe 18:463-470, 2015). This is in part because expression of the sensor is much lower in blood-derived CD4 T cells and also because reverse transcription is much less successful in these cells. We worked together and published more than four really exciting manuscripts all in very high impact factor journals. This is because our findings changed the HIV-1 pathogenesis field. If it wouldn’t have been for Dr. Doitsh’s determination to ask questions no one else wanted to study deeper and his hard work and creativity we might still be completely ignorant of the main mechanism of CD4 T cell depletion in lymphoid tissue where the virus thrives the most all through out infection Dr. Doitsh always asked questions everyone else dismissed but the difference is that he would not dismiss them and would come up with extremely creative techniques with which to address them. I have never worked in such a high energy, dedicated group again. This because of Dr. Doitsh's number 1 rule of challenging every dogma possible. I had no idea that this type of high energy and extremely inquisitive environment was so rare in science. Considering all the accomplishments and hard work described above, I have full confidence in my recommendation of Dr. Gilad Doitsh.

I am writing to offer my highest recommendation for Dr. Gilad Doitsh, a Senior Researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF. Dr. Doitsh and his team recently pioneered the development of a next-generation self-amplifying RNA vaccine for mucosal delivery. Their approach mimics viral infection of relevant tissues (e.g. respiratory tract and gut mucosa) and elicits a robust yet balanced activation of immune responses, protecting against respiratory and orofecal infections. There are many qualities that set Dr. Doitsh apart from other senior scientists. He is a creative out-of-the-box thinker, who enjoys tackling new scientific problems. He is resourceful and visionary—if the tools needed to solve a certain problem don’t already exist, he will work diligently to create them. For example, mucosal immunity has long been a "holy grail" of vaccine development; Dr. Doitsh devised a method to achieve it by combining self-amplifying viral RNA with a liposome-based packaging system to trigger immune responses in target mucosal tissues. Dr. Doitsh is also deeply passionate about science and mentoring. He invests much of his free time thinking and talking about science, and would often return to work from the weekend full of new exciting ideas. He sincerely cares for his colleagues and trainees and is actively committed to promoting both individual and team success. In summary, Dr. Doitsh is a truly outstanding scientist and mentor, who I believe will make a great addition to any academic or industry environment.

To whom it may Concern, I first met Dr. Gilad Doitsh as a postdoctoral fellow at the Gladstone Institute. Dr. Doitsh guided and mentored my research at the time since I was a new graduate student in the lab of Dr. Warner Greene. As a result of his unique and high-energy personality, his creativity, and willingness to teach others as much as possible, the team grew from being just myself and Dr. Doitsh to at least five other members working on projects that extended from his original idea. All his hard work and dedication, as well as his ability to grow and manage a whole team, lead to his promotion as an Investigator and HIV Pathogenesis leader at Gladstone Institute. In the mean time, the field as well as all the team members benefited from the fact that Dr. Doitsh did not conform to what had been blindly accepted and neglected in the HIV-1 pathogenesis field. First, he published his studies showing that CD4 T cells in the lymphoid tissue were dying as a result of abortive infection (Cell 143:789–801 2010). Then the findings that this abortive infection was causing accumulation of reverse transcribed DNA which were sensed by IFI16 (Science 343:428-432, 2014) were published. In the same year the mechanism of cell death was characterized to be pyroptosis in tonsil and in spleen derived CD4 T cells (Nature 505:509-514, 2014). Then I, along with Dr. Doitsh and several other team members published that while these events were very common in CD4 T cells derived from lymphoid tissue they were rare in blood-derived CD4 T cells (Cell Host & Microbe 18:463-470, 2015). This is in part because expression of the sensor is much lower in blood-derived CD4 T cells and also because reverse transcription is much less successful in these cells. We worked together and published more than four really exciting manuscripts all in very high impact factor journals. This is because our findings changed the HIV-1 pathogenesis field. If it wouldn’t have been for Dr. Doitsh’s determination to ask questions no one else wanted to study deeper and his hard work and creativity we might still be completely ignorant of the main mechanism of CD4 T cell depletion in lymphoid tissue where the virus thrives the most all through out infection Dr. Doitsh always asked questions everyone else dismissed but the difference is that he would not dismiss them and would come up with extremely creative techniques with which to address them. I have never worked in such a high energy, dedicated group again. This because of Dr. Doitsh's number 1 rule of challenging every dogma possible. I had no idea that this type of high energy and extremely inquisitive environment was so rare in science. Considering all the accomplishments and hard work described above, I have full confidence in my recommendation of Dr. Gilad Doitsh.

I am writing to offer my highest recommendation for Dr. Gilad Doitsh, a Senior Researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF. Dr. Doitsh and his team recently pioneered the development of a next-generation self-amplifying RNA vaccine for mucosal delivery. Their approach mimics viral infection of relevant tissues (e.g. respiratory tract and gut mucosa) and elicits a robust yet balanced activation of immune responses, protecting against respiratory and orofecal infections. There are many qualities that set Dr. Doitsh apart from other senior scientists. He is a creative out-of-the-box thinker, who enjoys tackling new scientific problems. He is resourceful and visionary—if the tools needed to solve a certain problem don’t already exist, he will work diligently to create them. For example, mucosal immunity has long been a "holy grail" of vaccine development; Dr. Doitsh devised a method to achieve it by combining self-amplifying viral RNA with a liposome-based packaging system to trigger immune responses in target mucosal tissues. Dr. Doitsh is also deeply passionate about science and mentoring. He invests much of his free time thinking and talking about science, and would often return to work from the weekend full of new exciting ideas. He sincerely cares for his colleagues and trainees and is actively committed to promoting both individual and team success. In summary, Dr. Doitsh is a truly outstanding scientist and mentor, who I believe will make a great addition to any academic or industry environment.

To whom it may Concern, I first met Dr. Gilad Doitsh as a postdoctoral fellow at the Gladstone Institute. Dr. Doitsh guided and mentored my research at the time since I was a new graduate student in the lab of Dr. Warner Greene. As a result of his unique and high-energy personality, his creativity, and willingness to teach others as much as possible, the team grew from being just myself and Dr. Doitsh to at least five other members working on projects that extended from his original idea. All his hard work and dedication, as well as his ability to grow and manage a whole team, lead to his promotion as an Investigator and HIV Pathogenesis leader at Gladstone Institute. In the mean time, the field as well as all the team members benefited from the fact that Dr. Doitsh did not conform to what had been blindly accepted and neglected in the HIV-1 pathogenesis field. First, he published his studies showing that CD4 T cells in the lymphoid tissue were dying as a result of abortive infection (Cell 143:789–801 2010). Then the findings that this abortive infection was causing accumulation of reverse transcribed DNA which were sensed by IFI16 (Science 343:428-432, 2014) were published. In the same year the mechanism of cell death was characterized to be pyroptosis in tonsil and in spleen derived CD4 T cells (Nature 505:509-514, 2014). Then I, along with Dr. Doitsh and several other team members published that while these events were very common in CD4 T cells derived from lymphoid tissue they were rare in blood-derived CD4 T cells (Cell Host & Microbe 18:463-470, 2015). This is in part because expression of the sensor is much lower in blood-derived CD4 T cells and also because reverse transcription is much less successful in these cells. We worked together and published more than four really exciting manuscripts all in very high impact factor journals. This is because our findings changed the HIV-1 pathogenesis field. If it wouldn’t have been for Dr. Doitsh’s determination to ask questions no one else wanted to study deeper and his hard work and creativity we might still be completely ignorant of the main mechanism of CD4 T cell depletion in lymphoid tissue where the virus thrives the most all through out infection Dr. Doitsh always asked questions everyone else dismissed but the difference is that he would not dismiss them and would come up with extremely creative techniques with which to address them. I have never worked in such a high energy, dedicated group again. This because of Dr. Doitsh's number 1 rule of challenging every dogma possible. I had no idea that this type of high energy and extremely inquisitive environment was so rare in science. Considering all the accomplishments and hard work described above, I have full confidence in my recommendation of Dr. Gilad Doitsh.