Skip to main content
Eddie Wang

Professor Eddie Wang

Professor of Viral Immunology

School of Medicine

Comment
Media commentator

Overview

I am a Professor of Viral Immunology within the 'Viral Immunology' Research Group (VIRG) of the Division of Infection & Immunity, School of Medicine, College of Biomedical & Life Sciences. My research covers the biology and cellular immunology relating to Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and the biological function of Death Receptor 3, a member of the TNFR superfamily involved in control of inflammatory and autoimmune disease. More details of the HCMV work can be seen at the VIRG webpage (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/explore/research-units/viral-immunology-research-group).

Further details of publications can be found on Researchgate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eddie_Wang) and Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=DgvpthYAAAAJ)

Professional Membership

  • British Society of Immunology
  • Microbiology Society

University Committees

  • Human Tissue Officer for the Henry Wellcome Building, Division of Infection & Immunity
  • Member of the Cardiff University HTA Research Governance Committee
  • Panel Chair for PhD appraisals within the Division of Infection & Immunity
  • Member of the Systems Immunity University Research Institute (SIURI)
  • Grant panel member Cardiff University/Wellcome Trust ISSF scheme
  • Immune Evasion theme Cardiff joint lead for the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC)
  • GW4-PhD scheme Infection, Immunity & Repair theme shortlisting/interview panel 2020/21

Publication

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2002

2001

1998

1992

  • Wang, E. C. Y., Borysiewicz, L. K. and Weetman, A. P. 1992. Cell sorting using immunomagnetic beads. In: Manson, M. M. ed. Immunochemical Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology Vol. 10. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, pp. 347-358.

Articles

Book sections

Research

RESEARCH THEMES

I have had a long-standing interest in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a herpesvirus that is the primary infectious cause of congenital abnormalities and causes life-threatening disease in immunosuppressed transplant recipients and AIDS patients. HCMV infects for life and imprints on the immune system; I originally reported on the oligoclonal nature of CD8+CD57+ T cell expansions associated with HCMV infection over 25 years ago (1-3). I have made a substantial contribution to our understanding of HCMV immune evasion holding multiple MRC research and Wellcome Trust programme grants to study this since. Peter Tomasec, Gavin Wilkinson and myself were the first to fully define a viral NK evasion function (HCMV UL40) (4, 5). In exploring differences between laboratory and clinical HCMV strains with Richard Stanton, we further identified UL135, UL141, UL142 (with Mark Wills, Cambridge) and UL148 as novel NK evasion functions (6-9). In re-evaluating the HLA-I homologue UL18, we demonstrated that UL18 provided for LIR1-dependent NK inhibition (10) and identified US18 and US20 as the dominant HCMV immunoevasins responsible for suppressing the NK cell activating ligands MICA and B7-H6 (11, 12). Most recent research has demonstrated ADAM17 targeting by UL148 and UL148D profoundly alters the surface proteome of infected cells and indirectly inhibits NK cells (13), while the soluble UL4 protein blocks TRAIL-mediated induction of cell death and NK activation (14). This represents ~half of all known HCMV-encoded NK inhibitors (15, 16). My track record in immune evasion led to inclusion as the Cardiff joint lead for the Immune Evasion theme for the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC) studying the immunopathology of SARS-CoV-2.

I have also made a substantial contribution to the field of Death Receptor 3 (DR3) research. DR3 is a member of the Tumour Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily involved in immune regulation. I generated the only known DR3ko mouse (17), establishing DR3's essential function in inflammatory/autoimmune diseases ranging from inflammatory arthritis (18) to inflammatory bowel disease (19) and antiviral immunity (20) through controlling T-cell (21, 22) and myeloid function (18, 23).

CURRENT FUNDING (major grants only)

2023-2030 Wellcome Trust Discovery Award "Exploiting novel antiviral immune responses" awarded to R Stanton (PI), E Wang (£1,976,186)

2023-2027 GW4-PhD Studenstship "Generating killer cells for immunotherapy against cancer and pathogensawarded to E Wang (PI), M Heinrich-Sevcenco, R Stanton, L Wooldridge (Bristol) (£114,536)

2022-2025 KRUK Project Grant "Identifying risk factors in kidney transplant patients for disease caused by human cytomegalovirus infection" awarded to E Wang (PI), R Stanton, S Griffin (£209,986)

2021-2026 5-year technician funded through collaboration on a Wellcome Trust SIA awarded to Ben Willcox (University of Birmingham) "Exploring innate-like and adaptive gamma delta T cell paradigms in health and disease" (~£2m, £379,510 of which to Cardiff)

2020-2024 MRC Project Grant "Characterisation of a novel class of natural killer cell immunoevasin" awarded to E Wang (PI), R Stanton, D Price, S Kollnberger (£819,703)

HISTORICAL FUNDING (major grants only)

2021-2023 NIHR Project Grant "The immunologic and virologic determinants of long COVID" awarded to D Price (PI), H Davies, I Humphreys, P Morgan, R Stanton, E Wang (£744,457)

2019-2023 MRC Project Grant "The role of antibody in enabling cell-mediated control of HCMV infection" awarded to R Stanton (PI), E Wang (£762,492)

2017-2023 Wellcome Trust Collaboration Grant "Analysis of cytomegalovirus pathogenesis in a human challenge system" awarded to P Griffiths (University College London). Wang named collaborator (~£1.7m, £329,728 of which to Cardiff for PDRA)

2020-2021 MRC Research Grant "A UK underpinning platform to study immunology and immunopathology of COVID-19: The UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium" awarded to P Moss (University of Birmingham) and 73 other Co-Investigators across UK including E Wang (~£8m, £300,000 of which to Cardiff for 3 posts in different labs)

2017-2021 MRC Project Grant "Systematic characterisation of the HCMV pathogenicity domain spontaneously lost from commonly used passaged strains" awarded to E Wang (PI - sole holder), G Wilkinson (retired), P Tomasec (deceased) (£956,196)

2010-2018 Wellcome Trust Programme Grant "Modulation of host immunity by human cytomegalovirus" awarded to G Wilkinson (PI), E Wang, P Tomasec (£1,062,032)

2014-2018 MRC Project Grant "A systematic investigation into human cytomegalovirus gene function" awarded to G Wilkinson (PI), E Wang, P Tomasec (£679,426)

2010-2013 MRC Project Grant "An analysis of wild type human cytomegalovirus" awarded to G Wilkinson (PI), E Wang, P Tomasec (£901,468)

2009-2013 MRC Project Grant "Investigating the modulation of immunity to persistent viral infection by the death receptor 3/TNF-like 1A pathway" awarded to E Wang (PI), I Humphreys (£467,078)

2007-2010 MRC Project Grant "Modulation of natural killer cells by human cytomegalovirus" awarded to G Wilkinson (PI), E Wang, P Tomasec (£668,526)

2006-2009 MRC Collaboration Grant "Cellular and viral immunology resource at the Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff University" awarded to E Wang (PI), A Gallimore (£188,888)

2004-2009 MRC Career Establishment Grant "The role of death receptor 3 in peripheral CD8+ T cell function" awarded to E Wang (sole holder) (£643,596)

2004-2009 Wellcome Trust Programme Grant "Immune modulation by human cytomegalovirus" awarded to G Wilkinson (PI), E Wang, P Tomasec (£789,117)

2004-2007 Wellcome Trust Project Grant "Immune evasion by Epstein Barr virus" awarded to M Rowe (PI), E Wang (£304,679)

2002-2005 Wellcome Trust Project Grant "Generation and function of CD8+, CD57+ T cells induced by HCMV infection" awarded to E Wang (sole holder) (£167,415)

1995-1998 Beit Memorial Fellowship "Molecular mechanisms of thymocyte development" awarded to E Wang (sole holder) (~£135,000)

REFERENCES

1. Wang EC et al, Clin Exp Immunol 94, 297 (1993); 2. Wang EC et al, J Immunol 155, 5046 (1995); 3. Chong LK et al, Eur J Immunol 38, 995 (2008); 4. Tomasec P et al, Science 287, 1031 (2000); 5. Wang EC et al, PNAS USA 99, 7570 (2002); 6. Wills MR et al, J Immunol 175, 7457 (2005); 7Wang EC et al, PNAS USA 115, 4998 (2018); 8. Tomasec P, Wang EC et al, Nature Immunol 6, 181 (2005); 9. Stanton RJ et al, Cell Host Microbe 16, 201 (2014); 10. Prod'homme V et al, J Immunol 188, 2794 (2012); 11. Fielding et al, PLoS Pathog 10, e1004058 (2014); 12. Fielding CA et al, Elife 6, e22206 (2017); 13. Rubina A et al, PNAS USA 120, e2303155120 (2023); 14. Vlachava V et al, PNAS USA 120, e2309077120 (2023); 15. Wilkinson GW et al, Med Microbiol Immunol 204, 273 (2015); 16. Patel M et al, Front Immunol 9, 2214 (2018) 17. Wang EC et al, Mol Cell Biol 21, 3451 (2001);  18. Bull MJ et al, J Exp Med 205, 2457 (2008); 19. Taraban VY et al, Mucosal Immunol 4, 186 (2011); 20. Twohig JP et al, FASEB J 26, 3675 (2012); 21. Meylan F et al, Immunity 29, 79 (2008); 22. Malhotra N et al, Sci Immunol 3, eaa02892 (2018); 23. Collins FL et al, BMC Musculoskel Dis 20, 326 (2019).

Teaching

I provide lectures, tutorials and research projects in Immunology and Virology to a range of courses supplied by Cardiff University. Currently, the majority of these are to medical students (2nd and 3rd year), but also to the Medical Pharmacology course. I also teach on the new MSc in Applied & Experimental Clinical Immunology.

Biography

WORK EXPERIENCE

Apr 2009 onwards        Division of Infection & Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University

Professor: Aug 2021 onwards

Reader: Aug 2009 to Jul 2021

Senior Lecturer: Apr 2009 to Jul 2009

Aug 2005 – Apr 2009   School of Medicine, Cardiff University

Senior Lecturer

Jan 2000 – Jul 2005     Section of Infection and Immunity, UWCM, Cardiff

Senior Lecturer: Aug 2004 to Jul 2005

Lecturer: Jan 2000 to Jul 2004

Oct 1995 – Dec 1999 Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London

Beit Memorial Research Fellow

Sept 1993 - Sept 1995 Department of Medicine, UWCM, Cardiff 

Post-Doctoral RA

Oct 1992 - Jan 1993 Department of Medical Biochemistry, UWCM, Cardiff

Pre-PhD RA

Oct 1989 - Aug 1993 Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge (PhD)

PhD in Immunology

Honours and awards

2008          MRC Industry Poster Award, IIB Vaccines and Immunotherapy Showcase

2003          MRC Career Establishment Grant

1995 Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical Research

1992 Oral Presentation Prize, 7th Annual Postgraduate Research Meeting, UWCM, Cardiff

1989 Dr. G. Fulton Roberts Memorial Prize for Immunology, Cambridge

Supervisions

Current supervision

Beth Ferris

Beth Ferris

Research student

Research themes

Specialisms

  • Cellular immunology
  • Virology