william rothwell
Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar
T cells are immune cells that can attack infected cells or promote other immune cells to do the same. I will spend my Fulbright conducting cutting-edge experiments with T cells that have a direct application to current global health issues
William Rothwell is one of thirteen Americans to be granted a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship from the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in 2008. A Wake Forest University graduate, William will carry out his Fulbright research evaluating the T cell response to influenza in mice at the University of Melbourne.
William chose to work with Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne, as Australia is at the forefront of this research field.
“Australia is famous within the scientific community for being a historical powerhouse in the field of immunology. Dr Doherty, a 1996 Nobel Laureate, is the perfect mentor pursuing for this line of research. His lab is internationally-renowned for its studies of T cell responses to influenza.”
In his research, William will use transgenic mice and recombinant influenza strains to show that influenza antigens continue to stimulate T cell responses in vivo for months after the virus is cleared from the lungs. His work will contribute to a greater understanding of the course of influenza infection and may have functional implications in the development of better flu vaccines. William will spend 12 months in Dr. Doherty’s lab, starting in August 2008.
After completion of the Fulbright, William will pursue a doctorate in the immunology of infectious diseases that are of major global health concern. He aims for his research to contribute directly to the development of novel treatments or a vaccine for HIV. “Although influenza is different from HIV, there is significant overlap between the two viruses in their mechanisms of infection and in the experiments one uses in the lab to assay T cell responses to them,” explains William.
William’s academic achievements have been recognised with a number of awards, such as Wake Forest University’s Nancy S. Reynolds Scholarship and Sullivan Scholarship, and with induction into several honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, and Omicron Delta Kappa.
He has also been a leader of a number of university organisations including Amnesty International and the Philomathesian, his university’s arts and sciences journal. He is also actively involved in his university’s competitive ballroom dance team, has performed in many university theatre productions, and sings with the university choir.