Vincent R. Racaniello (born January 2, 1953) is a Higgins Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.

[2][3] Racaniello has received the Irma T. Hirschl, Searle Scholars, Eli Lilly, Julius Youngner and NIH Merit awards.

He graduated from Cornell University in 1974 (BA, biological sciences) and completed his PhD in the laboratory of Peter Palese in 1980,[8] studying genetic reassortment of influenza virus.

[15] These mice exhibited all symptoms and pathology of poliomyelitis observed in humans, including flaccid paralysis and spinal cord lesions.

[17][18] Racaniello's laboratory continues to investigate how poliovirus circumvents the immune response of the host, enhancing our understanding of its pathogenesis and why it is a disease of the central nervous system.

Racaniello has also begun to study how these viruses evade the host innate immune system, in particular interferon type I response.

[24] Together with a long-term collaborator, Racaniello's lab has determined that neurotropism of Zika virus and enterovirus D 68 are not a recently acquired phenotypes.

Data from their research understanding the mechanism of enterovirus D68 associated acute flaccid myelitis suggests multiple means by which paralysis may result from virus infection.

[25][26] In collaboration with members of the Center for Infection and Immunology at Columbia, Rosenfeld and Racaniello described a cross-reactive anti-enterovirus antibody response.

Understanding that the World Wide Web is a primary scientific tool, Racaniello is one of the co-creators of BioCrowd,[28] a social network designed to bring together scientists of all disciplines.

Continuing to bring virology to those outside of the field, Racaniello established a library containing podcasts of lectures he has recently given at Columbia University.