Christopher Wheeler, Ph.D.
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Affiliation(s):
T-Neuro Pharma; SBMT; StemVax Therapeutics
ORCID URL:
Areas of Interest:
Neuroimmunology, immunology, Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration, aging, drug discovery, neurodevelopment
Biography & Research:
Christopher J. Wheeler, Ph.D., is a co-founder and Chief Science Officer at T-Neuro Pharma, President of StemVax Therapeutics (owned by NovAccess Global) and holds Senior Research Scientist position at the World Brain Mapping Foundation, Society for Brain Mapping & Therapeutics. He obtained his Ph.D. in Immunology from University of California, Berkeley, where he studied the mechanism of genetic diversification in the gene family (class I MHC) controlling cytolytic T cell recognition and populational resilience to pandemics, in 1990. Thereafter, Wheeler received a series of postdoctoral fellowships from National Institutes of Health and Leukemia Society of America (now Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) in the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, where he initiated more direct examination of CD8 co-receptor structure/function on T cells. Dr. Wheeler moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after his Stanford fellowships, where he worked closely with neurosurgeon Dr. Keith Black to start the immunotherapy program for brain tumor patients, and examined both how to improve immunotherapy, as well as the role of cytolytic T cell aging in age-related outcomes of neurological conditions. In so doing, Wheeler created a novel model of cytolytic T cell homeostatic expansion that mimics this earliest of aging events in humans, and isolates it from other features of aging, in mice. While not immediately useful for the improvement of clinical brain tumor immunotherapy, Wheeler discovered that the model recreated never before seen features of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease in mice, and co-founded T-Neuro Pharma with a more entrepreneurial academic colleague to more quickly commercialize its diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Dr. Wheeler has also led the organization of the Alzheimer’s and dementia track of the Society for Brain Mapping & Therapeutics since 2018, and received the Golden Axon Leadership award from the World Brain Mapping Foundation in 2023. Dr. Wheeler has published over 45 peer-reviewed papers in prominent journals that include Nature (2), J Amer Chem Soc (1), J Immunol (1?), Oncogene (1), Mech Ageing & Dev (1), EMBO J, Cancer Research (2), Clinical Cancer Research (1), Cancer Immunol Immunother (2), Nucleic Acids Res (1), and many others. Dr. Wheeler’s research is primarily focused on how adaptive immunity and immune aging influences Alzheimer’s and age-related tissue damage, and how molecular alterations to immune receptors and co-receptors can be exploited to improve immunotherapy for age-related conditions. He is currently working to bring diagnostics and therapeutics based on such concepts to Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other patients.
