Bruce Torbett, Ph.D.

Chairman; Associate Professor in the Departments of Molecular and Experimental Medicine and Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California; adjunct Associate Professor in The Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, UCSD, San Diego, California; and Head, Molecular and Cellular Therapy, The Scripps Cancer Center, La Jolla, California.

Dr. Torbett currently leads a research group investigating gene programs that regulate myeloid differentiation and function, the use of gene delivery to regulate gene programs in hematopoietic cells to control HIV-1-infection, and HIV-1-mediated dysregulation of immune function. His group was instrumental in uncovering master genes that regulate myeloid differentiation and was the first group to demonstrate that gene transfer to human hematopoietic stem cells is possible. Dr. Torbett received his B.S. degree from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, a M.S.P.H. in infectious disease epidemiology and a Ph.D. from UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. His Ph.D. studies were on activation requirements for T helper cell function and differentiation and cellular requirements for cytotoxic T cell function, which were continued in his postdoctoral studies at the Lilly Research Laboratories, La Jolla, California, and The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Torbett’s honors include an undergraduate research training fellowship from N.S.F., fellowships from U.S.P.H.S., N.C.I., and a New Investigator Faculty Award, University of California AIDS Taskforce. He has also received lectureships from various universities in the U.S. and Europe.