Thomas Forsthuber, Ph.D.

Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Endowed Chair in Biotechnology

Professor, Biology

Thomas Forsthuber was a medical student in his first neurology course when the plight of multiple sclerosis patients struck him. Of all the diseases that he studied, this one seemed especially unkind. It arose mysteriously in the prime of life, causing the body’s own immune system to turn hostile and wage war on the delicate protective layers that surround brain cells. And it seemed there was little that doctors could do as this stealth attack began to fray the circuits in the brain, causing vision problems, muscle weakness, loss of coordination, pain and numbness. In the most serious cases, the disease stole away patients’ ability to walk or speak. 

In 2005, Forsthuber relocated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and brought those questions to UTSA, where he now is the Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Chair in Biotechnology. Here, his passion for science and compassion for people drive a research program that is delving into the immune system for clues about what goes wrong and what can be done to stop the devastating damage that follows. 

Dr. Forsthuber’s lab pursues several lines of investigation to understand how the immune system, in particular T cells, contribute to autoimmune diseases and how to modulate T cell immunity for therapeutic purposes in humans. Specifically, he studies immune mechanisms in the central nervous system in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model for MS. Moreover, Dr. Forsthuber studies human autoimmune heart disease in a model called experimental autoimmune myocarditis. His research is aimed towards direct applicability to human diseases, for example by developing novel drugs for autoimmune diseases and biomarkers to monitor the efficacy of treatments for autoimmune diseases.