Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research

Francois Villinger

Biography

 Francois Villinger, DVM, PhD, Chief of the Yerkes Division of Pathology, graduated from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. The primary research interests of Dr. Villinger and his lab team are modeling human infectious diseases in relevant nonhuman primate models, particularly for those diseases without other models and those that do not reproduce human pathogenesis. These diseases include HIV/AIDS as well as infection models of XMRV, dengue fever and listeria.

 
As Chief of the Division of Pathology, Dr. Villinger oversees the administrative functions of the division. This entails oversight of the administrative staff, approving grant submissions by division faculty and trainees, ensuring appropriate allocation of division resources and mentoring junior faculty. Dr. Villinger is involved in reporting division research activities to the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and preparing progress and plan descriptions of division research activities for the Yerkes Research Center’s P51 base grant renewal. Dr. Villinger also serves as the liaison between division staff and the Yerkes administration, and advises the director on issues related to the scientific mission of the Center.
 
In addition, the Villinger lab runs a NCRR-funded resource that provides nonhuman primate specific immunomodulatory reagents, such as recombinant cytokines and soluble forms of immune-receptors, to investigators on a national and international level. The Yerkes research center provides 60 samples annually.

Dr. Villinger collaborates with a number of researchers at Yerkes, including Drs. Aftab Ansari, Mirko Paiardini and Bali Pulendran.

Research Interest

 Pathology , Medicine