This is a summary of the curriculum vitae (CV) of Dr. Wolfgang W. Leitner, Chief of the Innate Immunity Section of the Basic Immunology Branch/Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation, at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID/NIH), Rockville, USA. He will give a presentation at Fujita Health University, by Zoom, on Friday, January 28.
The photograph is from https://www.davisconstruction.com/.
The map is from Google Map.
Dr. Leitner oversees the NIAID Vaccine Adjuvant Program, and his section manages NIAID’s grant portfolio in the area of innate immunity. Dr. Leitner joined NIAID’s extramural Program in 2008, after working on conventional and self-replicating DNA- and RNA-based vaccines and adjuvants for melanoma and T cell lymphoma at the National Cancer Institute (NCI/NIH) for a decade. He became interested in DNA vaccines during his postdoc at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Washington, DC), where he developed the first DNA-based vaccine for P. berghei malaria. Dr. Leitner was born in Austria and received his PhD from the University of Salzburg, Austria, defining the immunological differences between the spleen and splenic autotransplants, which are responsible for the impairment of certain immunological functions of the transplanted tissue. I have known Dr. Leitner for about 20 years, initially because of our shared interest in DNA- and RNA-based vaccines, and we always have had a nice friendship by e-mail. It has been impressive to see how his scientific intelligence, combined with level-headedness and a passion for science organization, have led to important functions within the NIH. It is a great honor and opportunity to have him explain to us the organization of the NIH, and how foreign institutes can apply for its grants. In his presentation, he will also introduce the NIAID Vaccine Adjuvant Program, which should be an exciting and timely topic given the importance of vaccine development in the current era.
My Science
(these are personal words written by Dr. Leitner for this blog)
I was trained as a basic immunologist and what excites me is the discovery of novel immunological mechanisms and pathways that explain how we deal with pathogens, but also how pathogens have learned how to bypass or actively interfere with these mechanisms. What has, however, always bothered me was the notion and criticism that basic research is too far removed from real-life applications and that too many findings have no translational value. In my view, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has put that concern to rest. I am absolutely thrilled to see how many basic research-insights have been turned into therapies, diagnostics and vaccines at record speed.
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
1990 Master of Science (Biochemistry), Institute for Biology, Biochemistry
and Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Salzburg
1992 Doctor of Science (Immunology), Institute of Chemistry and
Biochemistry, Transplantation Biology Section, University of Salzburg
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1990-1992 Junior staff fellow, University of Salzburg/Austria and Ludwig Boltzmann
Institute of Experimental Surgery, Salzburg/Austria
1992-1994 Visiting Scientist and Vaccine Consultant, Department of Immunology,
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC
1994-1998 Research Scientist and Vaccine Consultant, Walter Reed Army Institute
of Research – Silver Spring Annex, Silver Spring, MD
1998-2002 CRTA Fellow, Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research,
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
2002-2003 Research Fellow, Dermatology Branch, Center for Cancer Research,
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
2003-2008 Staff Scientist, Dermatology Branch, Center for Cancer Research,
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
2008-2014 Program Officer/Project Officer, Basic Immunology Branch, DAIT/NIAID,
Bethesda, MD
Dec 2014- current Chief, Innate Immunity Section, Basic Immunology Branch,
DAIT/NIAID/NIH, Rockville, MD
Dec 2014- current Contract Officer’s Representative (COR) for NIAID Adjuvant Discovery
programs, head of NIAID vaccine adjuvant program
AWARDS
1990 Cash prizes from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (Austrian Institute of
Health Services) for “Outstanding performance”
1991 Cash prize from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute (Austrian Institute of
Health Services) for “Basic research project with the highest clinical
relevance”
1994 Award for excellence in teaching, CATCMB, Bethesda, MD
2000 NCI/CS-fellows award
2000 NIH Fellowship Advancement Award
2006 NIH individual cash award
2008 NIH ratings-based cash award
2009, 2020, 2011, 2012 NIH individual cash award
2009 NIAID Merit Award
2011 NIAID Merit Award
2012 NIAID Merit Award
2016 NHLBI Director’s Award
2017 Five NIAID Merit Awards
2017 NIH Director’s Award
2018 Three NIAID Merit Awards
2019 Two NIAID Merit Awards
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARDS
2007- current Melanoma Molecular Map Project (MMMP)
2012- current Editorial Board Member and Editor, ISRN Immunology
2012 Member, Immunology Advisory Panel for OVRR/FDA
2015 Member, Organizing Committee for International Conference on Innate
Immunity
2020- current National Cancer Institute PREVENT Program Management and
Administrative Committee (MAC)
PARTICIPATION IN COMMITTEES
2007 Subject-matter-expert for NCI flow-core facility
2008-current NIAID subject-matter-expert for RCDC grant reporting system
2009-current Co-chair, NIAID Vector Immunology working group
2010-2016 Chair, trans-government Vaccine Adjuvant Working Group
2010-2016 Chair, NIAID Adjuvant Working Group
2011-current Member, management committee, Delaney Collaboratory
2012-current Member, FDA/CBER Influenza-Immunology Panel
2012-2016 Program representative, NIAID Funding Newsletter
2013-current DAIT representative for Decade of Vaccines and the Global Vaccine and
Immunization Research Forum (GVIRF)
2020 DAIT representative, NIAID SARS-CoV2 Extramural Response Team,
SARSCoV2 vaccine working group
2020 Co-organizer: Advancing Vaccine Adjuvants for Mtb Therapeutics workshop
2021 DATI representative, NIAID vaccine working group and HHS Vaccine
Implementation working group
2021 Co-chair, NIAID/Gates Foundation vaccine adjuvant working group
CONFERENCE ORGANIZER
2009 Co-organizer, “Mast Cells in Inflammation, Infection and Adjuvant Development”
2010 Co-organizer, “Innate Immunity in HIV Infection and Implications for Designing
Vaccines against HIV”
2010 Co-organizer, Blue Ribbon Panel on Vaccine Adjuvant Research
2011 Co-organizer, “Immunologic Consequences of Vector Derived Factors”
2011 Co-organizer, “ASTMH symposium: Immunologic Consequences of Vector
Derived Factors”
2013 Co-organizer, “Effect of Vector Innate Immunity and Human-Derived Immune
Molecules on the Transmission of Vector-Borne Pathogens”
2014 Co-organizer, “Translational Considerations for Novel Vector Management
Approaches”
2015 Co-organizer, trans-NIH conference “The Third Circulation: Lymphatics as
Regulators in Health and Disease”
2015 Co-organizer, trans-NIAID conference “TB Immune Evasion”
2015 Co-organizer, Keystone conference “The Arthropod Vector – Controller of
Transmission”
2016, 2017 Co-organizer/moderator, NIAID workshop “Kinks in the Armor: Bypassing
the Immune Barriers of the Skin”
2018 Co-organizer, NIAID workshop “Optimization of animal models to better predict
influenza vaccine efficacy”
2018 Co-organizer/moderator, NIAID workshop “Caveats of the Mouse Model:
Parameters that Affect Immunology Research for Vector-Borne Pathogens”
2019 Co-organizer/chair: 21st EID conference (Hanoi, Vietnam)
2019 Co-organizer/chair: Vaccine adjuvant collaborations between US and Indian
investigators (National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India)
2019 Co-organizer, NIAID workshop “Data-Driven Determinants of Protective
Immunity to Malaria Vaccination in Endemic Regions”
2019 Co-organizer, NIAID workshop “Biology of innate lymphoid cells”
2019 Co-organizer, NIAID workshop “Tissue-resident memory cells in skin
homeostasis”
2020 Chair/speaker, Moonshot Immunoprevention workshop
REVIEWER FOR SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
Dr. Leitner has been reviewer for the following journals: Journal of Immunology, Cancer Research, Human Gene Therapy, Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy, Nature Biotechnology, Blood, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry, Journal of Dermatological Science, Journal of Investigative Dermatology,Journal of Immunotherapy, Journal of Molecular Medicine, Expert Opinion on Anticancer Therapy, Vaccine, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Diagnostic Pathology, European Journal of Cell Biology, Molecular Therapy, Experimental Cell Research, Clinical and Experimental Allergy, International Journal for Biotechnology, PNAS, and Molecular Biology Research, Human Vaccines.
PUBLICATIONS
Dr. Leitner has 78 publications in peer-reviewed journals and ten books or book-chapters. His research has predominantly been practically orientated (towards the development of good vaccines), but nevertheless includes a number of publications in high impact factor journals among which Nature Medicine (2x, of which 1x as first author), Nature Immunology, Seminars in Cancer Biology, Cancer Research (6x, of which 1x as first author and 1x as last author), PNAS, Blood (first author), Journal of Clinical Investigation (first author), and Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Below is a list of some of his representative publications.
Research articles
Reprint in: Current Awareness in Biomedicine/Parasitology, 6:11, ISSN 0964-7570
Books & Chapters in Books
Leitner WW, Restifo NP: RNA vaccines. Encyclopedia of Molecular Medicine, John Wiley & Sons, p2843, ISBN 0-471-37494-6, 2001.
Leitner WW and Bergmann-Leitner ES: Antibody Affinity Assays. Biological Research Methodology – A Handbook, Taylor & Francis Group, Publishers/CRC Press, ISBN 9780849376160, 2008.
Bergmann-Leitner ES and Leitner WW: Antibody Purification. In: Biological Research Methodology – A Handbook, Taylor & Francis Group, Publishers/CRC Press, ISBN 9780849376160, 2008.
Leitner WW: Immune-activating mechanisms of replicase-based DNA and RNA vaccines and their role in immune apoptosis. In: Gene Vaccines. Springer Verlag GmbH, ISBN 10: 3709104386, 2011.
Bergmann-Leitner ES and Leitner WW: Gene gun immunization to combat malaria. In: Biolistic DNA Delivery: Methods and Protocols (series: Methods in Molecular Biology), Humana Press, USA, (Springer Publishing Group), ISSN 1064-3745, 2012.
Bergmann-Leitner ES, Leitner WW: Vaccination using gene-gun technology; book chapter in Malaria Vaccines- series: Methods in Molecular Biology (Springer Publishing Group, ISBN 978-1-4939-2814-9), 2015.
Leitner WW, Costero-Saint Denis A, Wali T: The Site of the Bite: Addressing knowledge gaps in vector transmission of diseases (Elsevier Publishers, ISBN: 978-0-12-805350-8), 2017.
Costero-Saint Denis A, Leitner WW, Wali T, Kincaid R: Considerations for the Translation of Vector Biology Research (Elsevier Publishers, ISBN: 978-0-12-805360-7), 2017.
Review Articles and Commentaries
Leitner WW: Genetic vaccines: myth, menace or medical breakthrough? EMBO Reports 2(3):168, 2001.
Restifo NP, Antony PA, Finkelstein SE, Leitner WW, Surman, DR, Theoret, MR, Touloukian CE, Yu, Z: Assumptions of the tumor ‘escape’ hypothesis. Seminars in Cancer Biology 12(1):81, 2002.
Augustine AD, Hall BF, Leitner WW, Mo AX, Wali TM, Fauci AS: NIAID workshop on immunity to malaria: addressing immunological challenges. Nat Immunol 10(7):673, 2009.
Leitner WW: Vaccine Adjuvants – Is the pipeline clogged? Immunotherapy 4(6):565, 2012.
Contributor to: National Technology Roadmap for Pandemic Response and Recovery (https://www.armiusa.org/pandemicroadmap), March 2021
