Human Gene Therapy - April 2023 - 251

IN MEMORIAM
251
both Ken and Nick, and continued to follow their pioneering
work on AAV biology as well as AAV vector development,
as I started my own laboratory at Indiana University School
of Medicine in Indianapolis. I am particularly proud that
Nick and I published our articles on the identification of
proteins that interact with AAV inverted terminal repeats in
thesamevolumeof Journal of Virology in July 1989.9,10
Nick was also extremely helpful with some of our research
projects, both by discussing and sharing ideas as well as
reagents, but absolutely refused to be listed as a coauthor on
articles. He toldme tojust thank him in the acknowledgment
section, which I did.11-13 Nick also gracefully accepted my
invitation to give a talk at Indiana University in 1999.
After Terry Flotte recruited me back to the University of
Florida in 2004, I began frequent interactions and discussions
with Nick, especially after both ofus were housed in the same
building in 2006. These discussions resulted in the development
and characterization of the next generation of AAV
vectors, but this time, I refused to submit those articles until
Nick relented, and agreed to be listed as a coauthor.14,15 We
also coauthored two additional articles16,17 as well as a perspective
article.18 I also had many spirited discussions with
Nick, which resulted in a coauthored article that provided a
putative solution to the AAV genome packaging puzzle.19
In 2018, the Late Mavis Agbandje-McKenna and I coorganized
the XVIIth International Parvovirus Workshop
in Miami Beach, Florida, and invited both Ken and Nick to
deliver keynote lectures.20 To say that those lectures were
the highlight of the meeting, would be putting it mildly. I
always have, and I continue to hold both Ken and Nick in
the highest esteem because both instilled in me the value of
pursuing basic science of AAV, which I continue to do,
now in my fifth decade, and for which I will remain eternally
grateful to both of them.
The last time I saw Nick was on August 30, 2022, when
he invited me to have dinner with him. As I noted earlier, I
always found Nick to be a man of few words, but I was
quite surprised that he was uncharacteristically extremely
talkative. He essentially narrated his entire life story, the
details of which I will not divulge here. He even said a few
nice things about me, which meant a great deal to me. On a
somewhat more personal note, I received a text message
and a phone call from Nick in the middle of the night on
January 1, 2023. I texted and called him back in the
morning, but he did not respond. I truly regret that I did not
go down that day to see Nick, who had moved to Cocoa
(Cocoa is only *2.5 h drive from Gainesville), knowing
fully well that there was not much that I could have done for
him. Nick passed away in the morning of January 6, 2023.
With a profound sense of loss and sadness, but with
utmost respect as well as gratitude, all I can say is: Rest in
peace, Nick.
Arun Srivastava
University of Florida
Nick Muzyczka will be remembered as a founder of the
field of AAV gene therapy and as a major contributor to
our understanding of parvovirus replication. For a long
time, interest in AAV and in autonomous parvoviruses
have been relatively separate, but parallel, fields of re
Human Gene Therapy - April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Human Gene Therapy - April 2023
