Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

Michael C. Levin

Biography

Dr. Michael C. Levin is Associate Professor at Department of Neurology at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, USA. He received his MD from The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Michael did his Postdoctoral at National Institutes of Health, Neuroimmunology Branch. This laboratory studies the relationship between viruses and immune-associated diseases of the human central nervous system, particularly multiple sclerosis (MS). Specifically, they study how patients infected with HTLV-1 (human T - lymphotropic virus type I) develop HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP), a demyelinating disease with similarities to MS. Current experiments focus on two major areas. First, identifying a novel auto-antibody response in HAM/TSP patients that may identify a human protein with similarities to viral proteins, an area of study known as molecular mimicry. Second, experiments are designed to identify abnormal expression of RNA using single cell analysis of abnormal areas of brain from MS and HAM/TSP patients. By identifying what cells produce in the central nervous system they hope to develop novel therapeutic strategies to help treat patients with these diseases.

Research Interest

Immunology, Clinical Immunology

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