Stephen Miller, PhD
Congressman John E. Porter Professor of Microbiology-Immunology
Professor of Dermatology
Biography
Stephen Miller, Ph.D. is the Congressman John E. Porter Professor of Microbiology-Immunology and a Professor of Dermatology. He is currently Director of the Center for Immunobiology. Dr. Miller received his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Pennsylvania State University, and did his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Henry Claman at the University of Colorado. He was initially a faculty member at the University of Colorado, and moved to Northwestern in 1992. He serves or has served on the Editorial Boards of the J. Immunology, J. Neuroimmunology, Virology, Cellular Immunology, Viral Immunology, and J. Autoimmunity. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has written more than 250 research publications.
Research Interests
Dr. Miller’s research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of T cell-mediated autoimmune responses and strategies to induce specific immune tolerance to treat pre-existing autoimmune disorders. Using the model of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the mouse, Dr. Miller’s laboratory uses self myelin peptides to tolerize autoreactive T cells involved in myelin destruction, short-term therapy with antibodies directed against the B7/CD28 costimulatory pathway molecules (CTLA 4-Ig and anti-B7 monoclonal Abs) to induce T cell anergy, and more recently, short-term therapy with non-mitogenic anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody to induce anergy in previously activated T cells. Based on a peptide-specific tolerance strategy that the laboratory developed for treating mice with EAE (an animal model of MS), the group received funding from the NIH Immune Tolerance Network to carry out a phase I/II clinical trial in patients with early relapsing-remitting MS.
