Francois Villinger

Professor Tenured

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Affiliations

Department Of Biostatistics

Division Of Discovery Science

Department Of Comparative Medicine

Michale Keeling Center For Comparative Medicine And Research

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Francois Villinger is a Professor (Tenured) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research focuses on immunology and virology, with specific emphasis on HIV/SIV pathogenesis, vaccine development, and mucosal immune responses in non-human primate models. His recent work includes intranasal delivery of HIV/SIV antigens with novel adjuvants to enhance cellular immunity, mRNA vaccine trafficking via lipid nanoparticles, and a PIV5-vectored intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine eliciting protective immunity. He has also investigated IL-21 and anti-α4β7 dual therapy during ART, and intravaginal mRNA-encoded antibodies for SHIV/HIV protection. His interdisciplinary contributions extend to ion microprobe trace element analysis.

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Francois Villinger

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Professor Tenured

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immunology virology hiv immune responses vaccines mammalian biology vaccination medicine infectious diseases virus research adaptive immune system general virology clinical microbiology medical virology viral pathogenesis virus-host interactions clinical immunology dermatology medicinal research vaccine research rhesus macaques innate immune system hematology vaccine development viral genetics primatology veterinary medicine gene expression cellular immune responses cytokines antiviral research infection control t-regulatory cell host response viral evolution antiviral therapy viral replication respiratory medicine avian biology virus transmission viral diagnostics simian immunodeficiency virus nonhuman primates immunopathology andrology human retrovirus experimental medicine avian medicine primate behavior antibody engineering non-human primates viral persistence host factors molecular virology animal virus sooty mangabeys mucosal immunology disease transmission vaccine safety siv infection tropical medicine cell transplantation vaccine design plo biology venereology pathogen transmission siv-infected rhesus macaques rhesus monkeys chronic infection nk cells siv-infected macaques simian-human immunodeficiency virus hiv infection antibody responses protective immunity tumor necrosis factor-a communicable diseases hospital infections informatics public health preparedness neurovirology neglected tropical diseases malaria international health hepatitis virus eradication epidemiology translational medicine preventive healthcare influenza clinical epidemiology laboratory medicine public health ethics sars-cov-2 immunity (medicine) preventive medicine pathogens transplant infectious diseases medical entomology global health covid-19 pathogenesis infectious diseases (medical specialty) tropical animal health translational research clinical laboratory pathology

Notable Scholarly Works

Notable Federal Grants

Collaborators

Intranasal Delivery of Hiv/Siv Antigens With Ne/As01B Adjuvants Enhances Cellular Immunity and Reduces Viral Loads in Shiv-Challenged Macaques. bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2026)

gene therapyneurovirologyhivvaccinesvirologycellular therapyantiviral researchinfectious diseasesmedical virologysars-cov-2immunity (medicine)immunologytransplant infectious diseasesvirus eradicationgeneral virologyvirus research

Ion Microprobe Determination of Ex Vivo Trace Element Molarities: The Linaeus Code Suite. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (2026)

A Fourier-Optical Approach for Segmentation of Ion Microprobe Images Into Tissue and Non-Tissue Covered Areas. Ultramicroscopy (2025)

A Parainfluenza Virus 5 (Piv5)-Vectored Intranasal Sars-Cov-2 Vaccine (Cvxga1) Elicits Protective and Long-Lasting Immunity in Nonhuman Primates. Journal of Virology (2025)

vaccinationvirologyvaccinesantiviral researchcommunicable diseasesvaccine developmentinfectious diseasesmedical virologysars-cov-2immunity (medicine)immunologynonhuman primatesviral pathogenesisintranasal sars-cov-2 vaccinevaccine researchparainfluenza virus 5virus research

Enhanced Hiv Immune Responses Elicited by an Apoptotic Single-Cycle Shiv Lentivector Dna Vaccine. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (2025)

Il-21 and Anti-α4β7 Dual Therapy During Art Promotes Immunological and Microbiome Responses in Siv-Infected Macaques. JCI Insight (2025)

Samuel D. JohnsonMaria PinoArpan AcharyaJulien A. ClainDeepanwita BoseKevin NguyenJustin HarperFrancois VillingerMirko PaiardiniSiddappa N. Byrareddy

microbiologyart promotesmedical virologygeneral virologyimmunotherapyclinical immunologyinnate immune systemvirus researchimmune responsesinfectious diseasesadaptive immune systemimmunologyimmunity (medicine)immunopathologymedicinal researchsiv-infected macaquesimmunological memorymicrobiome responsesantiviral researchinflammationneuroimmunology

Intravaginal Delivery of Mrna-Encoded Antibodies With Enhanced Breadth and Potency for Shiv/Hiv Protection. Nature Communications (2025)

gene therapyneurovirologyhivvirologyvaccinesgynecologyantiviral researchreproductive immunologysexual and reproductive healthinfectious diseasesvirus eradicationmedical virologyimmunologyvenereologydrug deliverygeneral virologyvirus research

Visualizing Lipid Nanoparticle Trafficking for Mrna Vaccine Delivery in Non-Human Primates. Molecular Therapy (2025)

Maureen BuckleyMariluz AraíngaLaura MaiorinoIvan S PiresB J KimKatarzyna Kaczmarek MichaelsJonathan DyeKashif QureshiYiming ZhangHoward MakJon M SteichenWilliam R SchiefFrancois VillingerDarrell J Irvine

nanoparticlesnon-human primatesnanoparticle researchnanomaterialsbiomedical engineeringimmunologymrna vaccine deliveryintracellular traffickinglipid nanoparticlenanomedicinemolecular biologynanobiotechnologynanotechnology

A Comparative Immunological Assessment of Multiple Clinical-Stage Adjuvants for the R21 Malaria Vaccine in Nonhuman Primates. Science Translational Medicine (2024)

PS ArunachalamNY HaSM DennisonRL SprengKE SeatonP Xiao...

vaccinationtranslational medicinevaccinesvaccine trialsvaccine developmentmultiple clinical-stage adjuvantsinfectious diseasesmalariaimmunologynonhuman primatestropical medicinecomparative immunological assessmentvaccine designvaccine researchtranslational researchdisease progression

Development of a Novel Representation of Drug 3D Structures and Enhancement of the Tsr-Based Method for Probing Drug and Target Interactions. Computational Biology and Chemistry (2024)

Tarikul I. MilonYuhong WangRyan L. FontenotPoorya KhajouieFrancois VillingerVijay RaghavanWu Xu

tsr-based methodtarget interactionsmedicinal chemistrypharmacologycomputational biologynovel representationcomputational chemistrydrug discovery