Physiology & Biophysics welcomes Philip Felgner, PhD

The Department of Physiology and Biophysics is excited to welcome Philip Felgner, PhD, as an adjunct professor effective June 1, 2018.

Felgner is director of the UCI Vaccine Research & Development Center as well as the Protein Microarray Laboratory and Training Facility. The goal of his current research is to identify the right antigens to use for vaccines.

The laboratory developed a high throughput approach to clone and express all proteins encoded in a microorganism’s genomic DNA and print them onto protein microarrays. It has cloned 70,000 genes derived from 35 infectious microorganisms, expressed and printed the encoded proteins on microarrays, and probed with an inventory of more than 25,000 sera from infected, vaccinated and healthy people worldwide to identify serodiagnostic and vaccine antigens.

Felgner joined the UCI faculty in 2002 after two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry, including as founder of Vical Inc. in San Diego based on his discovery of DNA vaccines. As chief scientific officer, he helped build the company into a publicly traded entity.

In 1985, he discovered and developed "lipofection" DNA transfection technology, the most widely used approach for introducing nucleic acid into cultured cells. His work has led to 200 published papers and 45 patents that have been cited by other scientists more than 33,000 times. He also is the founder of a UCI startup company called Antigen Discovery Inc.