Wilson W. Wong, Ph.D.

Associate Professor (BME)

Office CILSE, Room 405B
Email wilwong@bu.edu
Phone (617) 358-6958
Fax (617) 353-6766
Website Wilson Wong Lab

In the News

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Honors and Awards

Allen Distinguished Investigator Award 2022
National Academy of Engineering (NAE) German-American Frontiers of Engineering Invitee 2021
ACS Synthetic Biology Young Investigator Award 2018
BU College of Engineering Early Career Research Excellence Award 2018
NSF CAREER Award 2016
Boston University Ignition Award 2015, 2018
NIH Director’s New Innovator Award 2013
BU Engineering Dean’s Catalyst Award 2013

Research Areas

Our ability to observe biological systems has advanced dramatically over the past decades. However, our ability to modulate and control biology, especially through genetic means, has been lagging. Even with the recent developments in genome editing, we cannot still dynamically regulate cell functions, especially in complex living multicellular organisms such as mammals, with independent control of multiple processes and cell types simultaneously. This deficiency has hindered our ability to recapitulate and investigate complex natural multicellular processes. It also limits our ability to develop safe and effective therapies.

The overarching goal of my lab for the past decade has been to develop ways to control mammalian cell functions through engineering, biological network design, molecular biology, and chemical biology for medical applications, such as CAR T cell therapy. Our work can be broadly characterized into four different levels of regulation: receptor signaling, post-transcription, transcription, and DNA. Receptor engineering allows us to control how cells communicate with each other, either through cell surface or soluble ligands. Transcription and post-transcription regulation enable us to program the transcriptome by modulating coding and non-coding RNAs. DNA level control allows us to perform ultra-complex cellular computations that approach the complexity and sophistication found in natural systems. We developed orthogonal systems at each level, allowing us to regulate multiple genes and signaling independently. Our systems can be either regulated by FDA-approved drugs or light, and they are extensively optimized for robustness. To determine their clinical potential, we evaluated their performance in mice and/or in primary human immune cells. Together, our collection affords us unprecedented control over mammalian cell function.

These tools are developed in immune cells for therapeutics or diagnostics applications. For example, we are developing logic CAR and biomaterials to improve tumor-targeting specificity. We are also repurposing our universal CAR T cells to eliminate beta-cell-specific T cells for treating Type 1 Diabetes. In addition, we are leveraging our recombinase and Cas13 circuits to elucidate and recapitulate mammalian lung branching morphogenesis by constructing multicellular Turing circuits. Understanding how to create 3D structures will allow us to create tissues with the proper function for regenerative medicine.

Publications

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Department or Division: Biomedical Engineering

Affiliations: Primary & Affiliated Faculty, Synthetic Biology, Tissue Engineering & Mechanobiology

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