2019 Rodney Porter Memorial Lecture

Professor Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil, D.Sc, FRS, FRSE
Hansen Professor of Structural Biology, Chair Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology,
Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, US ​

Towards Design of Universal Influenza Vaccines and Therapeutics

Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil., D.Sc., FRS, FRSE

Dr. Wilson received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Edinburgh University, a D. Phil. and D.Sc. in Molecular Biophysics from Oxford University, did postdoctoral research at Harvard University, and joined The Scripps Research Institute in 1982. He is Hansen Professor of Structural Biology and Chair of the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology. His laboratory focuses on the structural basis of immune recognition and has determined crystal structures of many antigens, antibodies (>300), and other major antigen recognition receptors, including MHC class I and II, T cell receptors, cytokine receptors, and Toll-like receptors. His current focus is on how influenza virus, HIV-1, HCV and P. falciparum are recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies to inform design of novel vaccines and therapeutics. From 2000–2016, Dr. Wilson directed the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG) that pioneered high-throughput structural methods and led to 1600 novel structures. Dr. Wilson is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, has authored more than 775 papers, and is on the Statistical Board of Reviewing Editors for Science and the Cell Editorial Board.