Brandon Wilder

Brandon Wilder attended the University of Florida where he received his B.S. in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology in 2012. He then did his postdoctoral fellowship with Stefan Kappe at the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Seattle, WA where he studied protective immune responses to malaria and eventually finished as a Research Assistant Professor in 2018. He then joined the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute as an Assistant Professor. He also splits his time serving as the Unit Head of Immunology and Vaccine Development in the Department of Parasitology at the Naval Medical Research Unit-6 in Lima, Peru.

Using unconventional approaches such as genetically-weakened parasites that infect but do not cause disease, Brandon Wilder and colleagues have uncovered several mechanisms by which the immune system can overcome malaria infection or prevent it all together-ideally before the disease-causing blood stages. The Wilder group is focused on how to turn these observations into vaccines or interventions which can be used for both the prevention and eventual elimination of the disease altogether.