Brian Wilson

Biography

Dr. Wilson is Assistant Professor Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory medicine at the University of Florida. Dr. Wilson is an academic co-founder of the Company and is an expert in the study of NKT cells and asthma. Dr. Wilson has had a long-standing interest in NKT cells and autoimmunity, and in particular, type 1 diabetes. His laboratory was one first to demons defective function in this disorder. He later was one of the first to demonstrate an important role for NKT cells in the pathogenesis of the atopic/allergic disorders and that CD1d-dependent antagonists could be used to inhibit these diseases. His research interests encompass the immunoregulatory mechanisms affecting the development of autoimmunity, pulmonary inflammation, asthma, and allergy in mice and humans. More specifically, he is focused on the study of subpopulations of human and murine CD4+ T cells, which play a central role in the regulation of adaptive immunity and tolerance. He studies allergic diseases and asthma in humans and in mice as models of immune dysregulation, and examine the function of CD4+ αß TCR T cells with restricted cytokine profiles (Th1, Th2 and Th0 cells), CD4+ antigen-specific regulatory T cells (TReg), as well as iNKT cells in regulating these diseases. He is interested in the cellular, molecular and genetic mechanisms that control the interaction of T cells with dendritic cells, and that regulate cytokine synthesis in and the function of CD4+ T cells, which mediate development of, or protection against, disease. Dr. Wilson has received numerous awards and has authored over 50 original scientific articles. Dr. Wilson received his B.A. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University, completed his M.D. and Ph.D. (Pharmacology) degrees at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he also completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases.      

Research Interest

NKT based therapeutics targeting NKT cells to treat sickle cell disease, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, cancer, and asthma.