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Department of Pharmacology
Wenchao Song, Ph.D.

Education:

Ph.D.	University of Wales
Post-doctoral fellowship	Vanderbilt University
Post-doctoral fellowship	NIH

Research Summary:
I am a member of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics. I enjoy the challenge of inter-disciplinary studies and over the years my research activities have spanned several topics in molecular medicine and pharmacology. The common thread of my research effort is to use modern molecular and genetic approaches to uncover mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and to explore novel therapeutic strategies. Currently, my research group is investigating the role of complement, an innate immune system, in several models of autoimmune and inflammatory tissue injury. We are also working to characterize the in vivo function of an estrogen-specific metabolic enzyme in the regulation of tissue estrogen sensitivity. Both studies use genetically modified mice, engineered in our laboratory, as research tools.

Selected Key Publications:

Tong MH, Jiang H, Liu P, Lawson JA, Brass LF & Song W-C. Spontaneous fetal loss caused by placental thrombosis in estrogen sulfotransferase-deficient mice. Nat Med 11: 153-159, 2005.

Liu J, Miwa T, Hilliard B, Chen YH, Lambris JD, Wells AD & Song W-C: The complement inhibitory protein DAF (CD55) suppresses T cell immunity in vivo. J Exp Med 201: 567-577, 2005.

Kim DD, Miwa T & Song W-C: Retrovirus-mediated over-expression of DAF rescues Crry-deficient erythrocytes from acute alternative pathway complement attack. J Immunol 177: 5558-5566, 2006.

Kim DD & Song W-C: Membrane Complement Regulatory Proteins (review). Clinical Immunol 118: 127-136, 2006.

Miwa T, Maldonado MA, Zhou L, Yamada K, Gilkeson GS, Eisenberg RA & Song W-C: DAF ameliorates systemic autoimmune disease in MRL/lpr mice via both complement-dependent and -independent mechanisms. Am J Pathol 170: 1258-1266, 2007.

Zhang X, Kimura Y, Fang C, Zhou L, Sfyroera G, Lambris JD, Wetsel RA, Miwa T & Song W-C: Regulation of Toll-like receptor-mediated inflammatory response by complement in vivo. Blood 110: 228-236, 2007.

Fang C, Miwa T, Shen H & Song W-C: Complement-dependent enhancement of CD8+ T cell immunity to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in decay-accelerating factor- deficient mice. J Immunol In Press, 2007.