About

David Wallace has been the Judith Rodin Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania since 1996, with visiting appointments at London, Melbourne, Princeton, and Jerusalem. His primary academic interests include European literatures, medieval studies, poetry, Dante, Chaucer, and the performance of poetry. His long-term commitments focus on European literatures, medieval history, and poetry, especially Chaucer, with recent expansion into global mapping of nationalisms through his research project, National Epics. Wallace is editing this project for Oxford University Press, involving a collaborative effort with 110 contributors worldwide, supported by Penn's Digital Humanities initiatives. He authored Europe: A Literary History 1348-1418, published by Oxford University Press in 2016, which explores the interconnectedness of European cultures beyond traditional nation-state paradigms, emphasizing regions such as North Africa, al-Andalus, Sicily, and the Byzantine world. His work considers intricate literary linkages across diverse locales and cultures, aiming to foster understanding of a Global Middle Ages. Wallace's research also explores how literature and cultural forms construct national borders, with a focus on the roles of texts in shaping nationalism. His recent projects include a wide-ranging study of Chaucer, emphasizing oral performance and global influence, and he has contributed to digital and performance-based presentations of medieval texts. Wallace has held numerous distinguished positions, including President of the Medieval Academy of America (2018-19), Fellow of the English Association, and Faculty Fellow at Penn's Wolf Humanities Center. He has received several awards for teaching, including the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2024. His scholarly activities extend to editing The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing, participating in various international lectures, and supporting European studies and digital humanities initiatives. Wallace's work integrates European medieval studies with contemporary global and cultural issues, emphasizing the importance of literature in understanding history, identity, and nationalism.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Neuroscience
• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Bioinformatics
• Computational biology
• Cell biology
• Psychology
• Biochemistry
• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Immunology
• Psychiatry
• Virology

Selected publications

• Advances and prospects for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP)

  Nature Cell Biology · 2023 · 170 citations

  • Computational biology
  • Cell biology
  • Biology
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The mitochondrial adenine nucleotide transporters in myogenesis

  Free Radical Biology and Medicine · 2022 · 15 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Cell biology
  • Biochemistry

  sequestration and activation of the mitochondrial permeability transition (mtPTP) pore during cell differentiation.

  PublisherDOI

• Role of miR-2392 in driving SARS-CoV-2 infection

  Cell Reports · 2021 · 95 citations

  • Biology
  • Medicine
  • Virology

  MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation that have a major impact on many diseases and provide an exciting avenue toward antiviral therapeutics. From patient transcriptomic data, we determined that a circulating miRNA, miR-2392, is directly involved with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) machinery during host infection. Specifically, we show that miR-2392 is key in driving downstream suppression of mitochondrial gene expression, increasing inflammation, glycolysis, and hypoxia, as well as promoting many symptoms associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. We demonstrate that miR-2392 is present in the blood and urine of patients positive for COVID-19 but is not present in patients negative for COVID-19. These findings indicate the potential for developing a minimally invasive COVID-19 detection method. Lastly, using in vitro human and in vivo hamster models, we design a miRNA-based antiviral therapeutic that targets miR-2392, significantly reduces SARS-CoV-2 viability in hamsters, and may potentially inhibit a COVID-19 disease state in humans.

  DOI

• An mtDNA mutant mouse demonstrates that mitochondrial deficiency can result in autism endophenotypes

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 44 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Neuroscience

  gene missense mutation (P25L). This mouse manifests impaired social interactions, increased repetitive behaviors and anxiety, EEG alterations, and a decreased seizure threshold, in the absence of reduced hippocampal interneuron numbers. EEG aberrations were most pronounced in the cortex followed by the hippocampus. Aberrations in mitochondrial respiratory function and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were also most pronounced in the cortex followed by the hippocampus, but absent in the olfactory bulb. These data demonstrate that mild systemic mitochondrial defects can result in ASD without apparent neuroanatomical defects and that systemic mitochondrial mutations can cause tissue-specific brain defects accompanied by regional neurophysiological alterations.

  DOI

• The mitochondrial derived peptide humanin is a regulator of lifespan and healthspan

  Aging · 2020 · 104 citations

  • Biology
  • Genetics
  • Internal medicine

  . Humanin transgenic mice have many phenotypes that overlap with the worm phenotypes and, similar to exogenous humanin treatment, have increased protection against toxic insults. Treating middle-aged mice twice weekly with the potent humanin analogue HNG, humanin improves metabolic healthspan parameters and reduces inflammatory markers. In multiple species, humanin levels generally decline with age, but here we show that levels are surprisingly stable in the naked mole-rat, a model of negligible senescence. Furthermore, in children of centenarians, who are more likely to become centenarians themselves, circulating humanin levels are much greater than age-matched control subjects. Further linking humanin to healthspan, we observe that humanin levels are decreased in human diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and MELAS (Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes). Together, these studies are the first to demonstrate that humanin is linked to improved healthspan and increased lifespan.

  DOI

• Comprehensive Multi-omics Analysis Reveals Mitochondrial Stress as a Central Biological Hub for Spaceflight Impact

  Cell · 2020 · 384 citations

  • Biology
  • Computational biology
  • Bioinformatics
  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01NS030164

  NIH · $446k · 1995

• NIH Grant R03TW001366

  NIH · $122k · 2004

• NIH Grant R01GM046915

  NIH · $736k · 1996

• NIH Grant P50AG016573

  NIH · $67.7M · 2020

• NIH Grant R01AG013154

  NIH · $2.5M · 2007

Frequent coauthors

• Eduardo Ruiz‐Pesini

  Instituto de Salud Carlos III

  186 shared

• Jason C. Poole

  131 shared

• J. Schmidtke

  129 shared

• Stephen J. O’Brien

  127 shared

• Sher L. Hendrickson

  Shepherd University

  124 shared

• Lawrence Kingsley

  University of Pittsburgh

  122 shared

• Lisa P. Jacobson

  121 shared

• Frank J. Palella

  Northwestern University

  121 shared

Labs

• David Wallace LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Microbiology and Human Genetics

  Yale University

  1975

• M.Phil., Microbiology and Human Genetics

  Yale University

  1972

• B.S., Genetics, Developmental Biology

  Cornell University

  1968

Awards & honors

• Sir Israel Gollancz Prize by the British Academy
• Fellow of the English Association
• Faculty Fellow at Penn's Wolf Humanities Center (2021-2)
• Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (2024)
• David Delaura Teaching Award, Sponsored by the English Under…

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