Meet the Minnesota lineman fighting deadly disease in the lab

BEMIDJI – Football players treat bye weeks as a welcome respite from physical punishment, a time to rest, recover and rejuvenate.

Or, if you are Bill Ketola, you use the bye to take a soil sample that leads to the discovery of a new virus that could be used in treatments for tuberculosis.

Science doesn’t rest. Neither does Ketola.

Technically, that entire process took longer than one bye week, but the Bemidji State offensive lineman has a rather cool item to put on his résumé when he graduates in December — something that is likely to end up in scientific journals.

And since this was a novel virus, he got to name it. He gave it a Minnesota sports flair: “Jant” — short for Justin Jefferson and Anthony Edwards.

“I like understanding how things work and doing a deep dive,” said Ketola, a Mounds View High School product.

The person who coined the phrase “student-athlete” had Ketola’s college template in mind.

“I’ve kind of always had a pretty packed schedule,” he said.

The capstone to his academic career came in a senior-level class called Advanced Research Project. His inquisitive nature led him to choose bacteriophage research after listening to a presentation by Prof. Dr. Holly LaFerriere.

A bacteriophage (phage) is a virus that specifically infects bacteria. LaFerriere’s students attempt to isolate and characterize phages that are harmless to humans and potentially can be used to treat bacterial infections, including bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

Ketola spent the bye week last season with his fiancée, Madison Janssen, at her family home in Richmond, not far from St. Cloud. He collected a soil sample from a corn field across the street from the house. Ketola had failed to find a phage in his first two soil samples taken in different locations.

A process lasting several months, with steps including virus replication and purification, led to a cheerful outcome: Ketola and LaFerriere concluded that he had discovered a new virus, allowing him to name his discovery.

“That was part of the amazing part with Bill,” LaFerriere said. “He did it so quickly. Normally I have students get to where he is at after three years. From August until May, he was able to completely isolate this phage, get the DNA, isolate the genome from the bacteriophage, and then have it sequenced — and then he did more experiments.”

The findings in those experiments create hope that, through more research and testing, his virus might eventually be published and used in treatments for tuberculosis. LaFerriere collaborates with researchers who could continue further study of Ketola’s Jant virus.

“I’ve had other students find phages before,” LaFerriere said. “But he’s the one who went the farthest with it. I’ve never had anybody get to the point where they’re actually testing it against biofilms.”

His work landed him an invitation to present his research at the American Society for Microbiology conference in Los Angeles in June. The conference featured 5,000 scientists and researchers from around the world. Ketola presented his findings to experts in the field.

“I was pretty confident because I spent a lot of time working on this,” he said. “I knew all the ins and outs of it. I was talking to people who had multiple PhDs and I was able to answer pretty much all of their questions to their satisfaction. It was a great honor to be recognized for the work.”

“He’s a very well-rounded person,” said his mom, Lisa.

He earned Eagle Scout of the Year honors from his council in high school, made it to state in the spelling bee in middle school and competed in the Science Olympiad. He was a multi-sport athlete and all-conference in football at Mounds View. Musically, he plays tuba, trombone and piano.

He was always drawn to the sciences, just like his dad, Kraig, who double-majored in biology and chemistry at the University of Minnesota.

At 6-4 and 300 pounds, Ketola is a large human with the strong hands required of his position to generate power and move defenders. Scientists don’t use their hands to shove nose tackles in the lab. Ketola trained his large mitts in a delicate manner by taking a class called molecular technique that teaches lab skills, including how to use pipettors.

“Pipetting can be a little challenging to learn to be accurate,” he said. “To not have shaky hands.”

“Football has been amazing while I’ve been here,” he said. “It’s been more than I ever could have imagined.”

The same holds true for his entire college experience.

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FOOTBALL ACROSS MINNESOTA

Drake Lindsey: The Gophers freshman completed 31 of 41 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Rutgers. His 31 completions were the most by a Gophers quarterback since Adam Weber completed 31 in 2010 against Northern Illinois.

James Engle: Maple Grove’s running back rushed for five touchdowns and 176 yards on only 11 carries in its win over Moorhead.

Jacob Pipho: The Concordia (Moorhead) senior defensive back recorded a blocked punt, interception, forced fumble and seven tackles in a win over Gustavus.

The best things we saw on social media this week:

Went for two. Got zero: This goal-line stand by Concordia (Moorhead) on a two-point conversion try Gustavus gave the Cobbers the win.

Big-play blur: Gophers freshman Jalen Smith showed off his big-play talent Saturday with this long touchdown catch.

Oh, snaps: Whenever our photographer Alex Kormann shoots a high school sporting event, don’t miss his pictures.

“A kid in a candy shop. I was 7-year-old Anthony, being in the candy store, hearing, ‘Go free.’ My eyes brightened, and I think everybody else’s did, too.”

— Gophers defensive end Anthony Smith on seeing the snap roll between the legs of Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis for a 15-yard loss that led to a missed 56-yard field goal attempt in the closing seconds that secured a win.

21: Points Andover trailed Anoka by at halftime before storming back for a 62-61 win.

18: Sacks allowed by the Vikings in four games, an NFL high.

4.5: Sacks for Gophers defensive end Anthony Smith, ninth-most nationally.

St. John’s at Bethel, Saturday, 1 p.m. This is always an intense matchup between heavyweight Division III programs. Both teams are undefeated. St. John’s is ranked No. 4 nationally; Bethel is No. 12. St. John’s is ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring (56.7 points per game); Bethel is No. 5 (51.0).

“Awry.”

That’s the best way to describe what has happened to the Vikings’ offseason blueprint in rebuilding the offensive line. The plan on paper looked nothing like what became a reality in Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh. Three of the five positions were filled by backups by the second half, which resulted in Carson Wentz getting pounded. Injuries are a major problem, and one that could linger.

. . .