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Dr. Wang

Tian Wang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology & Immunology;
Department of Pathology
Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases

University of Texas Medical Branch
Keiller 3.118B, Route 0609
Galveston, TX 77555-0609

Office: (409)772-3146
Fax: (409)772-3338
ti1wang@utmb.edu

Professional Education

Degree Institution Field of Study Graduation Year
B.S. Anhui University, P.R.China Microbiology 1992
Ph.D. University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston Immunology 2000
Post-Doctoral Yale University, School of Medicine Infectious Disease 2004

Honors

1997–2000 James W. McLaughlin Predoctoral Fellowship, UTMB
1999 Christina Fleischmann Scholarship Award, UTMB
2001, 2003 Kempner Postdoctoral Fellowship, UTMB
2002–2003 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Rheumatology, Yale University
2005, 2006 AAI Junior Faculty Travel Award

Professional Affiliations

  • American Association of Microbiology
  • Sigma Xi, a Scientific Fraternity
  • American Association of Immunologist
  • American Association of Virologist
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science

Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding of immune response to West Nile virus infection in protection and pathogenesis.  West Nile virus, a vector-borne pathogen, has resulted in annual outbreaks of viral encephalitis in North America since 1999.  Using a murine infection model, my current work explores immune factors contributing to the development of long-lasting protective immunity against West Nile virus.  Aging is a known risk factor for West Nile virus induced encephalitis. The decline in immunity seen in the elderly is one of the significant contributors to the increased risk of infection.  My lab also studies whether the dysfunction of immune factors in aged mice leads to a defective adaptive immunity.

Selected Publications

  1. Wang T, Malawista SE, Pal U, Grey M, Meek J, Akkoyunlu M, Thomas V, and Fikrig E. (2002).  Superoxide anion production during Anasplasma phagocytophila infection.  J.Infec. Dis.  186:274-280. PMID: 12134266
  2. Wang T, Scully E, Yin Z., Kim JH, Wang S, Yan J, Mamula M, Anderson JF, Craft J, and Fikrig E. (2003). IFN-g producing gd T Cells help control murine West Nile virus infection.  J Immunol.  171: 2524-2531. PMID: 12928402
  3. Wong SJ, Demarest V, Boyle RH, Wang T, Ledizet M, Kar K, Kramer L, Fikrig E, and Koski R.  (2004). Detection of human antibodies to West Nile virus with a microsphere immunoassay. J Clin Microbiol.  42(1): 65-72. PMCID: PMC321652
  4. Liang FT, Brown EL, Wang T, Iozzo RV, and Fikrig E.  (2004).  Protective niche for Borrelia burgdorferi to evade humoral immunity.  Am. J. Pathol.  165(3): 977-85. PMCID: PMC1618599
  5. Wang T, Akkoyunlu M, Banerjee R, and Fikrig E.  (2004). Interferon-gamma deficiency reveals that 129Sv mice are inherently more susceptible to Anaplasma phagocytophilum  than C57BL/6 mice.  FEMS Microbiol.  42(3): 299-305. PMID: 15477043
  6. Wang T, and Fikrig E.  (2004). Immunity to West Nile virus. (Review).  Curr Opin Immunol. 16(4):519-23. PMID: 15245749
  7. Pal U, Li X, Wang T, Montgomery RR, Ramamoorthi N, deSilva AM, Bao F, Yang X, Pypaert M, Pradhan D, Kantor FS, Telford S, Anderson JF and Fikrig E.  (2004). TROSPA, an Ixodes scapularis receptor for Borrelia burgdorferi.  Cell.  119(4): 457-68. PMID: 15537536
  8. Wang T#, Town T#, Alexopoulou L#, Anderson JF, Fikrig E, and Flavell RA.  (2004). Toll-like Receptor 3  mediates West Nile Virus entry into the brain causing lethal encephalitis. (#Authors contributed equally to this work).  Nat Med. 10(12):1366-1373.
  9. Bai F, Wang T, Pal U, Bao F, Gould LH, Fikrig E.  (2005). Use of RNA interference to prevent lethal murine West Nile virus infection.  (2005).  J Infect Dis. 191(7): 1148-54.
  10. Ledizet M, Kar K, Foellmer HG, Wang T, Bushmich SL, Anderson JF, Fikrig E, Koski RA.  (2005). A recombinant envelope protein vaccine against West Nile virus. Vaccine. 23(30): 3915-24. PMID: 15917113
  11. Gould LH, Sui JH, Foellmer H, Oliphant T, Wang T, Ledizet M, Murakami A, Noonan K, Lambeth C, Kar  K, Anderson JF, de Silva  AM, Diamond MS, Koski RA, Marasco WA, and Fikrig E. (2005).  Protective and therapeutic capacity of human single chain Fv-Fc fusion proteins against West Nile virus.  J. Virol 79(23): 14606-13.
  12. Shrestha B, Wang T, Whitby K, Samuel MA, Craft J, Fikrig E, and Diamond MS.  (2006). IFN-g plays a crucial early antiviral role in the protection against West Nile Virus Infection.  J Virol. 80(11): 5338-48. PMCID: PMC1472130
  13. Wang T, Gao Y, Scully E, Davis CT, Anderson JF, Welte T, Ledizet M, Koski R, Madri JA, Barrett A, Yin, Craft J, and Fikrig E*.  (2006). gd T cells facilitate adaptive immunity against West Nile Virus infection in mice. J. Immunol.  177(3):1825-32.  PMID: 16849493
  14. Shi XR, Leng L, Wang T, Wang WK, Du X, Li J, McDonald C, Chen Z, Murphy J, Lolis E, Noble P, Knudson W and Bucala R.  (2006). CD44 is the signaling component of the MIF-CD74 receptor complex.  Immunity. 25(4):595-606.
  15. Arjona A, Foellmer HG, Town T, Leng L, McDonald C, Wang T, Wong SJ, Montgomery RR, Fikrig E, and Bucala R. (2007). Abrogation of macrophage migration inhibitory factor decreases West Nile virus   lethality by limiting viral neuroinvasion.  J. Clin. Inv.  117: 3059-3066 PMCID: PMC1994625
  16. Welte T, Lamb J, Anderson JF, Born WK, O’Brien RL, and Wang T.  (2008). The Role of Two Distinct Gamma/delta T cell Subsets during West Nile virus Infection. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol. 53(2):275-83. PMID: 18513355
  17. Wang S, Welte T, McGargill M, Town T, Thompson J, Anderson JF, Flavell RA, Fikrig E, Hedrick S, and Wang T.  (2008). Drak2-mediated T cell Responses in West Nile Encephalitis. J Immunol. 181(3):2084-91.
  18. Town T, Bai F, Wang T, Kaplan AT, Qian F, Anderson JF, Flavell RA, and Fikrig E. (2009). Tlr7 mitigates lethal West Nile encephalitis by affecting interleukin 23-dependent immune cell infiltration homing. Immunity. 20:30(2):242-253. PMID: 19200759
  19. Wang S, Welte T, Fang H, Chang G, Born WK, O’Brien RL, Fujii H, Sun B, Kosuna KI, and Wang T.  (2009). Active Hexose Correlated Compound Enhances Host Resistance to West Nile Encephalitis in Mice.  J Nutr. 139(3):598-602. PMCID: PMC2646222
  20. Welte T, Reagan K, Fang H, Machain-Williams C,  Zheng X, Mendell N, Chang GJ, Wu P, Blair CD and Wang T.  (2009). Toll-like Receptor 7 Induced Immune Response to Cutaneous West Nile Virus Infection.  J Gen Virol. (In press)

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