Faculty Profile for Dr. Michael A Wilson

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Education:
Stanford University (Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology),
University of Nevada, Reno (B.S. in Biochemistry)

Biography:
See the Texas State curriculum vitae:
https://api.hb2504.txstate.edu/py/getvita.py?plid=4897990

Teaching Interests

I have taught courses at Texas State University since 2018. Courses taught include undergraduate microbiology with laboratory, functional biology, modern biology, functional biology laboratory, genomics and graduate seminars (selected topics in genomics).

Research Interests

My immersion into the use and development early technologies for analyzing genome-scale DNA variants and gene expression patterns was driven by fundamental research questions probing the virulence, immunogenicity and global gene expression responses of the microbial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. I used a genetic screen to catalog the extra-cytoplasmic proteins expressed by M. tuberculosis, which are most likely to be immunogenic. With my collaborators, we directly documented the differences between lineages of BCG vaccine strains and virulent strains of M. tuberculosis. This work led to a USTPO patent applicable to developing a vaccine, monitoring vaccine efficacy or distinguishing between patients who are either BCG vaccinated or immunologically responsive to virulent M. tuberculosis. Using similar microarray-based technologies, we conducted multiple series of gene expression studies that revealed the regulons that control metabolic processes involved in direct and indirect responses to drugs and inhibitors.