David Wilson, MD, PhD
Professor
Associate Director Clinical Scientists T32 Training Program
Lead of Chemistry, Probes, and Molecular Therapy (CPMT)
Professor in Residence
Biography
David M. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. received his B.S. degree from Harvard University in Biochemistry, and completed his M.D./Ph.D. training at Columbia University in New York City. His Ph.D. mentor was Dr. Ronald Breslow, a pioneer in artificial enzymes, the hydrophobic effect, and bio-organic chemistry. Dr. Wilson’s subsequent clinical training was in radiology and neuroradiology at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he trained further in the laboratory of Professor John Kurhanewicz and subsequently became a faculty member in 2010. He has since established a basic science laboratory investigating the detection and characterization of cancer via analyte sensing, and developing probes for positron emission tomography (PET) and hyperpolarized 13C spectroscopy. His laboratory has most recently studied imaging infection using bacteria-specific metabolic pathways, and ways to detect ACE2 suppression in SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Wilson’s research interest is the development of new molecular probes for brain and tumor imaging. He is mainly interested in molecular imaging approaches where structural and biochemical insight is required. Recently, Dr. Wilson’s research consist of the development of new agents for hyperpolarized 13C spectroscopy, and his goal is to identify positron emission tomography (PET) that correlates for imaging in animal models.
Dr. Wilson is a physician-scientist dedicated to exploring a variety of metabolic and biochemical phenomena using new imaging techniques. His laboratory is currently focusing on comparing hyperpolarized (HP) 13C MRS and positron emission tomography (PET) in a variety of disease processes.
Expertise:
Neuroradiology
Specialty:
Positron emission tomography (PET)
Professional Interests:
Molecular imaging, MR spectroscopy, Redox chemistry, Vitamin C
Education and Training:
• Medical School: Columbia University, New York
• Internship: University of Hawaii Residency Program - Transitional Program
• Residency: University of California, San Francisco - Diagnostic Radiology
• Fellowship: University of California, San Francisco - Neuroradiology
• Doctor of Philosophy: Columbia University, New York
Education:
M.D., 2004 - School of Medicine, Columbia University, New York
Ph.D., - , Columbia University, New York
Fellowship, - School of Medicine - Radiology, University of California, San Francisco
Residency, - School of Medicine - Radiology, University of California, San Francisco
Honors and Awards:
Resident/Fellowship Research Grant, Radiological Society of North America, 2009
Margulis Society Research Award, University of California, San Francisco, 2009
Resident Training Grant Award (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health, 2007
Spotnitz Award for Excellence in Research of Neoplastic Diseases, 2004
Magna Cum Laude, Biochemistry, Harvard University, 1996
Publications:
Raissa Teixeira, Melissa Latter, Stephen Tapper, Michael O'Sullivan, John Gerdes, John Forsayeth, Chih-kai Chao, David Wilson, Robin Ippisch, Jessa Castillo, Scott Beck, Henry VanBrocklin, Joseph Blecha. Development of [18F]RP115 for clinical imaging of EAAT2 in neurodegenerative diseases. Nuclear Medicine and Biology. 2025 Nov 1; 150:109434.
Anju Wadhwa, Haley Johnson, Kamal Mandal, Kondapa Bobba, Anil Bidkar, Athira Raveendran, Ellis Mayne, Sham Rampersaud, Amrik S. Kang, Megha Basak, Marina Lopez-Alvarez, Sanghee Lee, Veronica Steri, David Wilson, Henry VanBrocklin, Youngho Seo, Jarrett J. Adams, Sachdev S. Sidhu, Arun Wiita, Robert Flavell. Selective treatment of acute myeloid leukemia targeting the activated conformation of integrin beta2 with [225Ac]Macropa-PEG4-7065. Nuclear Medicine and Biology. 2025 Nov 1; 150:109544.
U. Ali, C. Mu, J. Blecha, A. Wadhwa, N. Meher, A. Bidkar, S. Wang, Y. Seo, D.M. Wilson, H. VanBrocklin, R.R. Flavell. Development of 18F-labelled Zinc Biosensors and PET Imaging. Nuclear Medicine and Biology. 2025 Sep 1; 148:109082.
Xiao Gao, Kai Qiao, David M. Wilson, Myriam M. Chaumeil, Jeremy W. Gordon. Deuterium Metabolic Imaging of the Brain Using 2-Deoxy-2-[2H2]-d-glucose: A Non-ionizing [18F]FDG Alternative. JACS Au. 2025 Feb 6.
Chao CK, Blecha J, Polvoy I, Nillo RM, Seo Y, Wilson DM, Forsayeth JR, VanBrocklin HF, Gerdes JM. First-in-human healthy volunteer dosimetry studies of the excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2) PET imaging tracer methyl N4-(7-[18F]fluoro-9H-fluoren-2-yl)asparaginate, [18F]RP-115. Nucl Med Biol. 2025 Mar-Apr; 142-143:108992.
Alexandre M. Sorlin, Marina Lo´pez-A´lvarez, Jacob Biboy, Joe Gray, Sarah J. Rabbitt, Junaid Ur Rahim, Sang Hee Lee, Kondapa Naidu Bobba, Joseph Blecha, Mathew F.L. Parker, Robert R. Flavell, Joanne Engel, Michael Ohliger, Waldemar Vollmer, David M. Wilson. Peptidoglycan-Targeted [18F]3,3,3-Trifluoro-d-alanine Tracer for Imaging Bacterial Infection. JACS Au. 2024 Feb 25.
Anil Bidkar, Niranjan Meher, Gary Ashley, Anju Wadhwa, Kondapa Bobba, Becka Shuere, David Wilson, Youngho Seo, Daniel Santi, Henry VanBrocklin, Robert Flavell. O-04 StarPEG Nanocarriers for PSMA Targeted Radioligand Imaging and Therapy. Nuclear Medicine and Biology. 2023 Nov 1; 126:108400.
Kondapa Bobba, Anil Bidkar, Niranjan Meher, Cyril Fong, Anju Wadhwa, Suchi Dhrona, Alexandre Sorlin, Scott Bidlingmaier, Becka Shuere, Jiang He, David Wilson, Bin Liu, Youngho Seo, Henry VanBrocklin, Robert Flavell. O-14 Evaluation of 134Ce/La pair as a PET imaging surrogate for 225Ac radiotherapeutics. Nuclear Medicine and Biology. 2023 Nov 1; 126:108410.
Ryan Michael Nillo, Joseph Blecha, Chih-kai Chao, Youngho Seo, John Forsayeth, John Gerdes, Henry VanBrocklin, David Wilson. P-045 First in-human studies of the glutamate transporter EAAT2 radiotracer methyl N4-(7-[18F]fluoro-9H-fluoren-2-yl)asparginate (RP-115): radiosynthesis and biodistribution evaluation. Nuclear Medicine and Biology. 2023 Nov 1; 126:108517.
Alberto S, Ordonez AA, Arjun C, Aulakh GK, Beziere N, Dadachova E, Ebenhan T, Granados U, Korde A, Jalilian A, Lestari W, Mukherjee A, Petrik M, Sakr T, Cuevas CLS, Welling MM, Zeevaart JR, Jain SK, Wilson DM. The Development and Validation of Radiopharmaceuticals Targeting Bacterial Infection. J Nucl Med. 2023 11; 64(11):1676-1682.
Shin J, Parker MFL, Zhu I, Alanizi A, Rodriguez CI, Liu R, Watchmaker PB, Kalita M, Blecha J, Luu J, Wright B, Lapi SE, Flavell RR, Okada H, Tlsty TD, Roybal KT, Wilson DM. Antigen-Dependent Inducible T-Cell Reporter System for PET Imaging of Breast Cancer and Glioblastoma. J Nucl Med. 2023 01; 64(1):137-144.
Ilona Polvoy, Robert R. Flavell, Oren S. Rosenberg, Michael A. Ohliger, David M. Wilson. Nuclear imaging of bacterial infection: the state of the art and future directions. Chinese Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. 2022 Jul 25; 42(07):436-444.
Polvoy I, Seo Y, Parker M, Stewart M, Siddiqua K, Manacsa HS, Ravanfar V, Blecha J, Hope TA, Vanbrocklin H, Flavell RR, Barry J, Hansen E, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Engel J, Rosenberg OS, Wilson DM, Ohliger MA. Imaging joint infections using D-methyl-11C-methionine PET/MRI: initial experience in humans. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2022 09; 49(11):3761-3771.
Ning Zhao, Conner Bardine, Andre´ Luiz Lourenc¸o, Yung-hua Wang, Yangjie Huang, Simon J. Cleary, David M. Wilson, David Y. Oh, Lawrence Fong, Mark R. Looney, Michael J. Evans, Charles S. Craik. In Vivo Measurement of Granzyme Proteolysis from Activated Immune Cells with PET. ACS Central Science. 2021 Sep 2.
Ilona Polvoy, Hecong Qin, Robert R. Flavell, Jeremy Gordon, Pavithra Viswanath, Renuka Sriram, Michael A. Ohliger, David M. Wilson. Deuterium Metabolic Imaging—Rediscovery of a Spectroscopic Tool. Metabolites. 2021 Aug 25; 11(9):570.
Jianbo Liu, Matthew F.L. Parker, Sinan Wang, Robert R. Flavell, F. Dean Toste, David M. Wilson. Synthesis of N-trifluoromethyl amides from carboxylic acids. Chem. 2021 Aug 1; 7(8):2245-2255.
Parker MFL, Blecha J, Rosenberg O, Ohliger M, Flavell RR, Wilson DM. Cyclic 68Ga-Labeled Peptides for Specific Detection of Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2. J Nucl Med. 2021 Nov; 62(11):1631-1637.
Polvoy I, Flavell RR, Rosenberg OS, Ohliger MA, Wilson DM. Nuclear Imaging of Bacterial Infection: The State of the Art and Future Directions. J Nucl Med. 2020 12; 61(12):1708-1716.
Qin H, Carroll VN, Sriram R, Villanueva-Meyer JE, von Morze C, Wang ZJ, Mutch CA, Keshari KR, Flavell RR, Kurhanewicz J, Wilson DM. Imaging glutathione depletion in the rat brain using ascorbate-derived hyperpolarized MR and PET probes. Sci Rep. 2018 05 21; 8(1):7928.
Dumont RA, Keen NN, Bloomer CW, Schwartz BS, Talbott J, Clark AJ, Wilson DM, Chin CT. Clinical Utility of Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Spinal Infections. Clin Neuroradiol. 2019 Sep; 29(3):515-522.
David Wilson, Michael Ohliger. Introduction: MRI/MRS as Metabolic Imaging Tools. Imaging and Metabolism. 2018 Jan 1; 81-98.
Neumann KD, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Mutch CA, Flavell RR, Blecha JE, Kwak T, Sriram R, VanBrocklin HF, Rosenberg OS, Ohliger MA, Wilson DM. Imaging Active Infection in vivo Using D-Amino Acid Derived PET Radiotracers. Sci Rep. 2017 08 11; 7(1):7903.
Neumann K, Flavell R, Wilson DM. Exploring Metabolism In Vivo Using Endogenous 11C Metabolic Tracers. Semin Nucl Med. 2017 09; 47(5):461-473.
Alvaro A. Ordonez, Lauren E. Bambarger, Niren Murthy, David M. Wilson, Sanjay K. Jain. Bacterial Imaging. Imaging Infections. 2017 Jan 1; 149-172.
Liu W, Truillet C, Flavell RR, Brewer TF, Evans MJ, Wilson DM, Chang CJ. A reactivity-based [18F]FDG probe for in vivo formaldehyde imaging using positron emission tomography. Chem Sci. 2016 Aug 01; 7(8):5503-5507.
Robert R. Flavell, David M. Wilson, Spencer C. Behr. Recent Developments in Combined PET/MRI. Current Radiology Reports. 2016 May 1; 4(5):22.
Carroll VN, Truillet C, Shen B, Flavell RR, Shao X, Evans MJ, VanBrocklin HF, Scott PJ, Chin FT, Wilson DM. [(11)C]Ascorbic and [(11)C]dehydroascorbic acid, an endogenous redox pair for sensing reactive oxygen species using positron emission tomography. Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Apr 07; 52(27):4888-90.
Korenchan DE, Flavell RR, Baligand C, Sriram R, Neumann K, Sukumar S, VanBrocklin H, Vigneron DB, Wilson DM, Kurhanewicz J. Dynamic nuclear polarization of biocompatible (13)C-enriched carbonates for in vivo pH imaging. Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Feb 18; 52(14):3030-3.
Flavell RR, von Morze C, Blecha JE, Korenchan DE, Van Criekinge M, Sriram R, Gordon JW, Chen HY, Subramaniam S, Bok RA, Wang ZJ, Vigneron DB, Larson PE, Kurhanewicz J, Wilson DM. Application of Good's buffers to pH imaging using hyperpolarized (13)C MRI. Chem Commun (Camb). 2015 Sep 25; 51(74):14119-22.
Renuka Sriram, Kayvan R. Keshari, Mark Van Criekinge, John Kurhanewicz, David M. Wilson, Donna M. Peehl, Robert Bok, Wang J. Zhen. Abstract B37: Patient-derived tissue culture model systems of renal cell carcinoma for development of clinically translatable metabolic biomarkers. Preclinical Studies. 2014 Nov 1; b37-b37.
Kayvan R. Keshari, David M. Wilson. ChemInform Abstract: Chemistry and Biochemistry of 13C Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance Using Dynamic Nuclear Polarization. ChemInform. 2014 May 6; 45(18):no-no.
Wilson DM, Cohen B, Keshari K, Vogel H, Steinberg G, Dillon W. Case report: glioblastoma multiforme complicating familial cavernous malformations. Clin Neuroradiol. 2014 Sep; 24(3):293-6.
David M. Wilson, Lisa N. Silverman, Markus Bergauer, Kayvan R. Keshari. Solid phase synthesis of hydroxamate peptides for histone deacetylase inhibition. Tetrahedron Letters. 2013 Jan 1; 54(2):151-153.
Anna Bet-Lachin, Frank Jiang, Lingjing Chen, Keyvan Keshari, David Wilson, John Kurhanewicz, James L. Rubenstein. Metabolic Profiling of CNS Lymphoma and Its Microenvironment. Blood. 2011 Nov 18; 118(21):588-588.
Baugh SD, Yang Z, Leung DK, Wilson DM, Breslow R. Cyclodextrin dimers as cleavable carriers of photodynamic sensitizers. J Am Chem Soc. 2001 Dec 19; 123(50):12488-94.
