Dr
Wilhelm
Gerner
Wilhelm graduated from the University of Tübingen, Germany with a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Immunology for his work on the identification of foot-and-mouth disease virus-derived T cell epitopes in swine and cattle. He spent most of his scientific career at the Institute of Immunology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria, starting on a staff scientist position with promotions to Assistant Professor in 2015 and Associate Professor in 2020. He has been a Group Leader at The Pirbright Institute since January 2021.
Wilhelm’s research focuses on T cells in pigs and their response to various viral and bacterial pathogens like influenza A virus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Salmonella Typhimurium. In the last three years, he did also some work on T cells in chickens and turkeys as well as porcine B cells. Recently he focused on T follicular helper cells, which support B cells on their antibody-producing capacities.