Dr. Wilson seeks to develop tools that more accurately predict the responsiveness to immune therapy in autoimmune diseases and organ transplantation. His previous research uncovered how immune metabolism can contribute to immune tolerance in both Type 1 diabetes and lupus animal models. These findings form the basis for his current research which aims to utilize high-dimensional cytometry Spectral Flow Cytometry to detect changes in immune cell subsets in animal models and human patients with Type 1 diabetes and compare them to healthy controls and those treated with immune-targeting therapies (such as Teplizumab or Rituximab).

As he develops these tools for clinical application, he is continuing to develop flow cytometry-based tools in animal models to interrogate cell metabolism. He hopes that these tools will permit robust interrogation of alterations in metabolism on a single cell level in autoimmunity and in response to immune therapy. To this end, he is applying single cell metabolic tools like SCENITH, detection of rate-limiting metabolic proteins, and measurement of cell glycosylation using multicolor lectin panels in animal models of autoimmunity. He hopes these tools can be utilized clinically to predict responsiveness to immune therapy and elucidate mechanistic underpinnings of autoimmune pathogenesis and therapeutic responses.

Dr. Wilson has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He serves as co-mentor of the ASPIRE Path in Molecular Medicine at Vanderbilt. His work has been presented and received awards at scientific sessions of the Immunology of Diabetes Society Congress and Southeastern Immunology Symposium. In 2018 Dr. Wilson was recognized as Vanderbilt Scholar in Diabetes.

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