John Lukens

University of Virginia,
Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG)
Charlottesville, VA | USA

John received his PhD from the University of Virginia in 2008 for his work describing roles for PD-1 and functional T cell exhaustion in persistent liver infection. For his postdoctoral training, John worked in the laboratory of Dr. Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where he identified molecular pathways involved in innate cytokine production. In Fall 2014, John returned to UVA to launch his lab in the Department of Neuroscience and the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). His group is focused on understanding how innate immune signaling contributes to neurodegenerative, demyelinating, and neurodevelopmental disorders. They are particularly interested in defining the roles that inflammasomes, immune-based DNA damage sensors, ITAM/ITIM receptor signaling, and the meningeal lymphatics play in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and autism.