Clayton A. Wiley, Professor
Director, Division of Neuropathology
MD, Univ. of California, San Diego, 1981
PhD, Univ. of California, San Diego, 1981
Email: wileyca@upmc.edu
Dr. Wiley's research concentrates on the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and in particular on viral and age induced nervous system diseases. Viruses damage the nervous system either by direct infection of neural cells or by secondary effects of an immune response. In recent years his studies have focused on central nervous system retroviral infections and have pioneered the use of molecular and imaging techniques to quantitatively assess viral burden. This same technology is now being applied to quantify neurological damage and the immune / neuroinflammatory response with specific attention focused on disruption of the extracellular matrix and how this leads to synaptic damage. Using MRI and PET he is investigating the evolution of blood brain barrier defects and macrophage trafficking in mediating neurological disease.
Trainees in Dr. Wiley's laboratory have the opportunity to learn a wide variety of techniques related to studying degeneration of the nervous system. Whole organism techniques include; PET, MRI, brain harvesting and sampling, and small animal perfusion, histological techniques include; immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization and ultrastructural analysis. Training on laser confocal and electron microscopes is available. Protein techniques include; antibody purification and tagging. Molecular techniques include; RNA and DNA extraction from tissues, competitive PCR probe construction and quantitation. Lab rotation projects involve quantitation of mRNA and protein expression in human nervous system tissue in vivo or in vitro.
Recent Publication
Medina-Flores R, Wang W, Bissel SJ, Murphey-Corb M and Wiley CA: Destruction of extracellular matrix proteoglycans is an early event in simian retroviral encephalitis Neurobiology of Disease 16:604-616, 2004.
Bissel SJ, Wang G, Trichel AM, Murphey-Corb, Wiley CA: Longitudinal Analysis of Monocyte/Macrophage Infection in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infected, CD8+ T Cell Depleted Macaques that Develop Lentiviral Encephalitis. American Journal of Pathology 168: 1553-1569, 2006.
Bissel SJ, Wang G, Trichel AM, Murphey-Corb, Wiley CA: Longitudinal Analysis of Activation Markers on Monocyte Subsets During the Development of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Encephalitis. Journal of Neuroimmunology 177: 85-98, 2006.
Wiley CA, Lopresti BJ, Becker JT, Boada F, Lopez OL, Mellors J, MeltzerCC, Wisniewski SR, Mathis CA: PET imaging of peripheral benzodiazepine receptor binding in HIV-infected subjects with and without cognitive impairment. J Neurovirology 12: 262- 271, 2006.
Venneti S, Lopresti B, Wang G, Slagel S, Mathis C, Fischer M, Larsen NJ, Mortimer AD, Hastings TG, Smith AD, Zigmond MJ, Suhara T, Higuchi M, WileyCA: The high-affinity peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand [11C]DAA1106 permits improved PET imaging of microglia compared to [11C](R)-PK11195 in rodent models of neuroinflammation. J Neurochemistry (In Press)
Armah HB, Wang W, Omalu BI, Tesh RB, Gyure KA, Chute DJ, Smith RD, Dulai P, Vinters HV, Kleinschmidt-DeMasters BK, Wiley CA: Systemic distribution of west Nile virus during encephalitis: postmortem immunohistochemical study of 6 cases. Brain Pathology (In Press)
Horbinski C, Fine JL, Medina-Flores R, Yagi Y, Wiley CA: Telepathology for Intra-Operative Neuropathological Consultations at an Academic Medical Center: A Six-Year Report. Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology 66:750-759, 2007.
Venneti S, Wagner AK, Wang G, Slagel SL, Chen X, Lopresti BJ, Mathis CA, Wiley CA: The high affinity peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand DAA1106 binds specifically to microglia in a rat model of traumatic brain injury: Implications for PET imaging. Experimental Neurology 207:118-127, 2007.
