Edward Wakeland, Ph.D. - Faculty Profile

Biography

Throughout my career, I have been interested in elucidating the genetic basis for the functional diversity of the immune system, both in the context of susceptibility to autoimmunity and infectious diseases. I originally worked on the mouse but have moved predominantly into human genetics over the past decade. My research laboratory uses next-generation sequencing to perform high throughput genomic analyses of large patient populations. I recently transitioned from the position of Chairman of the Department of Immunology to become the Scientific Director of the Clinical NGS Laboratory and Genomics Core at UT Southwestern Medical Center. My mission in this new position is to support the development of clinical assays to implement precision medicine strategies in patient care and to support the development of genomics as a technology in clinical research. This has resulted in the expansion of my research interests to include the analysis of a variety of complex biological systems, including cancer, autoimmunity, immunity to infectious diseases, and immune system signaling. We developed the Clinical NGS Laboratory in association with the Departments of Pathology and Bioinformatics and validated an NGS-based targeted sequencing assay of 1425 cancer genes for use in patient care in 2017. This assay is currently being used by a variety of oncologists and we are now involved in several clinical research projects in cancer. We are also in the process of developing and validating additional assays for patient care, including transcriptomic analysis of the tumor microenvironment, characterization of the immunologic responses of patients receiving immunotherapy (with Drs. D. Gerber, Q. Li, and S. Khan), and genomic analysis of systemic lupus erythematosus patients (with Drs. P. Raj, D. Karp, Q. Li, and N. van Oers).

Education

Graduate School: University of Hawaii at Manoa (1976), Microbiology

Research Interest

Genetic variability in the immune system
Molecular genetics of susceptibility to autoimmune diseases
Precision Medicine

Publications

Featured Publications

Immune dysregulation in cancer patients developing immune-related adverse events.: Khan S, Khan SA, Luo X, Fattah FJ, Saltarski J, Gloria-McCutchen Y, Lu R, Xie Y, Li Q, Wakeland E, Gerber DE Br. J. Cancer 2018 Oct
Regulatory polymorphisms modulate the expression of HLA class II molecules and promote autoimmunity.: Raj P, Rai E, Song R, Khan S, Wakeland BE, Viswanathan K, Arana C, Liang C, Zhang B, Dozmorov I, Carr-Johnson F, Mitrovic M, Wiley GB, Kelly JA, Lauwerys BR, Olsen NJ, Cotsapas C, Garcia CK, Wise CA, Harley JB, Nath SK, James JA, Jacob CO, Tsao BP, Pasare C, Karp DR, Li QZ, Gaffney PM, Wakeland EK Elife 2016 Feb 5
From the cover: A Tlr7 translocation accelerates systemic autoimmunity in murine lupus: Subramanian, S., Tus, K., Li, Q.-Z., Wang, A., Tain, X.-H., Zhou, J., Liang, C., Barov, G., McDaniel, L.D., Zhou, X.J., Schultz, R.A., and Wakeland, E.K. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2006 103 9970-9975
Association of extensive polymorphisms in the SLAM/CD2 gene cluster with murine lupus.: Wandstrat AE, Nguyen C, Limaye N, Chan AY, Subramanian S, Tian XH, Yim YS, Pertsemlidis A, Garner HR, Morel L, Wakeland EK Immunity 2004 Dec 21 6 769-80
Polygenic control of susceptibility to murine systemic lupus erythematosus.: Morel L, Rudofsky UH, Longmate JA, Schiffenbauer J, Wakeland EK Immunity 1994 Jun 1 3 219-29
Mating patterns in seminatural populations of mice influenced by MHC genotype.: Potts WK, Manning CJ, Wakeland EK Nature 1991 Aug 352 6336 619-21
The origin of MHC class II gene polymorphism within the genus Mus.: McConnell TJ, Talbot WS, McIndoe RA, Wakeland EK Nature 1988 Apr 332 6165 651-4
Transancestral mapping and genetic load in systemic lupus erythematosus.: Langefeld CD, Ainsworth HC, Cunninghame Graham DS, Kelly JA, Comeau ME, Marion MC, Howard TD, Ramos PS, Croker JA, Morris DL, Sandling JK, Almlöf JC, Acevedo-Vásquez EM, Alarcón GS, Babini AM, Baca V, Bengtsson AA, Berbotto GA, Bijl M, Brown EE, Brunner HI, Cardiel MH, Catoggio L, Cervera R, Cucho-Venegas JM, Dahlqvist SR, D'Alfonso S, Da Silva BM, de la Rúa Figueroa I, Doria A, Edberg JC, Endreffy E, Esquivel-Valerio JA, Fortin PR, Freedman BI, Frostegård J, García MA, de la Torre IG, Gilkeson GS, Gladman DD, Gunnarsson I, Guthridge JM, Huggins JL, James JA, Kallenberg CGM, Kamen DL, Karp DR, Kaufman KM, Kottyan LC, Kovács L, Laustrup H, Lauwerys BR, Li QZ, Maradiaga-Ceceña MA, Martín J, McCune JM, McWilliams DR, Merrill JT, Miranda P, Moctezuma JF, Nath SK, Niewold TB, Orozco L, Ortego-Centeno N, Petri M, Pineau CA, Pons-Estel BA, Pope J, Raj P, Ramsey-Goldman R, Reveille JD, Russell LP, Sabio JM, Aguilar-Salinas CA, Scherbarth HR, Scorza R, Seldin MF, Sjöwall C, Svenungsson E, Thompson SD, Toloza SMA, Truedsson L, Tusié-Luna T, Vasconcelos C, Vilá LM, Wallace DJ, Weisman MH, Wither JE, Bhangale T, Oksenberg JR, Rioux JD, Gregersen PK, Syvänen AC, Rönnblom L, Criswell LA, Jacob CO, Sivils KL, Tsao BP, Schanberg LE, Behrens TW, Silverman ED, Alarcón-Riquelme ME, Kimberly RP, Harley JB, Wakeland EK, Graham RR, Gaffney PM, Vyse TJ Nat Commun 2017 07 8 16021
Regulation of B cell tolerance by the lupus susceptibility gene Ly108: Kumar, K.R., Li, L., Yan, M, Bhaskarabhatla, M., Mobley, A.B., Nguyen, C., Mooney, J.M., Schatzle, J.D., Wakeland, E.K, and Mohan, C. Science 2006 312 1665-1669
Epistatic modifiers of autoimmunity in a murine model of lupus nephritis.: Morel L, Tian XH, Croker BP, Wakeland EK Immunity 1999 Aug 11 2 131-9

Honors & Awards

Randy Fisher Award for Outstanding Basic Science Research in Lupus
This Award is given to one investigator studying systemic lupus erythematosus by the Lupus in the 21st Century organization (2018)
Pillars in Immunology publication : "Polygenic control of susceptibility to murine systemic lupus erythematosus"
The American Association of Immunology selects publications that have provided seminal discoveries in the field of immunology and republishes them in the Journal of Immunology (2015)
NIH Merit Award
This ten NIH grant is awarded to investigators for outstanding productivity and discovery (2004-2014)

Professional Associations/Affiliations

American Association of Immunologists
American Society for Microbiology
American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Genetics Society of America
Mammalian Genome Society