Dr. Michael Wheeler

Dr. Michael Wheeler is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, with appointments in the Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation and the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases. Trained in neuroimmunology and neurobiology, he studies how neuroimmune interactions shape brain function and behavior, and develops new tools to interrogate brain–body communication in vivo. The Wheeler lab applies a Systems Neuroimmunology framework to behavior, identifying the molecules, cells, and circuits through which peripheral immune signals remodel central circuits relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders, addiction, and inflammatory disease. Work from the lab has helped define how stress-induced peripheral immune activity reshapes glial states and synaptic programs in limbic circuits to drive maladaptive behavior, and how interventions including psychedelics can reverse these effects through coordinated action on immune and neural compartments. Ongoing efforts relate to how peripheral immunity shapes brain circuits underlying severe mental illness, with the goal of identifying tractable nodes for therapeutic intervention.