Brian tends to get lost in fields of poppies in France...

 BWilhelm@bccancer.bc.ca

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Department:	Terry Fox Laboratory (@ the BCCRC since 1998)
Research Role:	Graduate Student/Postdoctoral Fellow Alumnus
Education:	B.Sc. (Molecular Biology), Waterloo, 1996 B.Ed. (Secondary School Education), Queens, 1996 Ph.D. (Medical Genetics), UBC, 2003
Birthplace:	Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
Phone:	604-675-8000 ext.3030

Research Interests:

Natural killer (NK) cells represent a distinct population of immune cells which are able to target and destroy tumour and virus infected cells by their ability to detect the alteration of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class I expression on the surface of malignant or infected cells. The ability of NK cells to destroy abnormal cells but to not damage healthy cells has been shown to be mediated by the Ly49 molecules and the CD94/NKG2 heterodimers in mice. The genes of the 14 Ly49 identified to date, along with CD94 and the 4 members of the NKG2 family, are found in a cluster of NK-specific genes on mouse chromosome 6, termed the natural killer gene complex (NKC). Transcription of these genes varies during NK cell development and within individual cells, but the mechanisms controlling gene expression are not understood. The goal of my research project is to define the mechanism of transcriptional regulation of genes in the NKC in mice. I am using a combination of bioinformatic and traditional lab techniques to answer the questions posed by this project.