Organizing Committee Member
Clayton A. Wiley
Director of the Division of Neuropathology,Professor of Pathology
University of Pittsburgh
USA
Biography
Dr. Wiley is Director of the Division of Neuropathology. In addition to clinical sign out, Dr. Wiley directs the Neuropathology fellowship program and runs an NIH funded research program studying neuroinflammation and viral encephalitis in particular.
Research Area
Dr. Wiley's research concentrates on the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders and in particular on viral and trauma induced nervous system diseases. Viruses damage the nervous system either by direct infection of neural cells or by secondary effects of an immune response. In recent years his studies have focused on central nervous system lentiviral, arboviral, enteroviral and influenzal infections and have pioneered the use of molecular and imaging techniques to quantitatively assess viral burden and neuroinflammation. This same technology is now being applied to quantify neurological damage and the immune response to brain trauma. In addition to human studies of AIDS and Alzheimer’s dementia, Dr. Wiley’s lab uses H5N1 and H1N1 infected mice, ferrets and non-human primates to model viral encephalitis. Using MRI, PET and laser confocal microscopy they are investigating the evolution of the innate immune response, extracellular matrix degradation and macrophage trafficking in mediating neurological disease. Recent studies have focused on the role of immunization to modulate infectious (West Nile Virus, Influenza, Rift Valley Fever Virus, Human Parechovirus) and non-infectious (Alzheimer’s) neurological disease. Through extensive collaborations with neuroscientists throughout the Pittsburgh community, Dr. Wiley leads a team studying the interactions between aging and lentiviral infection on physiology and pathology of the nervous system.