Wilfred Jefferies

Dr. Wilfred A. Jefferies is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, affiliated with the Michael Smith Laboratories, Department of Medical Genetics, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and multiple research centers including the Vancouver Prostate Centre and the Centre for Blood Research. His research focuses on tumor immunology, cancer immunotherapy, antigen presentation, and blood-brain barrier mechanisms. He holds 60 patents and has supervised 42 graduate students, contributing to four UBC spin-off companies.

Education: B.Sc. Biochemistry (University of Victoria, 1981); D.Phil. Molecular Immunology (University of Oxford, 1985); Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Karolinska Institute (1989) and EPFL (1987).

Research Interests: Cancer immune evasion mechanisms, ILC2 cell immunotherapy, cannabinoid-based cancer treatments, Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis, and MHC class I antigen processing. Key achievements include discovering the OX40 immune checkpoint, creating the p97 melanotransferrin 'Trojan Horse', and identifying IL-33 as a cancer biomarker.

Articles trends: Focus on immunotherapy breakthroughs (e.g., ILC2-based therapies, cannabinoid immune revival), septic shock modulation via ABCF1, and neurodegenerative disease mechanisms involving amyloid-β and blood-brain barrier dysfunction. Awards include National Academy of Inventors Fellowship (2019).

Lab initiatives: Developing cell-based immunotherapies, cannabinoid anticancer agents, and BBB-crossing drug delivery systems. Collaborations include Vancouver Prostate Centre and Pascal Biosciences for clinical translation.