Research Summary

I am an Associate Professor in the UCSF Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar. My laboratory in the Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center at the UCSF Parnassus campus studies the molecular basis of immune cell programming, with a particular focus on post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in T cells. My laboratory is part of the Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center (SABRe), an investigative unit dedicated to basic discovery in asthma research. The SABRe Center’s advanced technology cores and connections with clinical research centers create an advantageous environment for marrying basic discoveries and technological innovation in RNA biology with translational approaches to apply fundamental research to advance the prevention and treatment of human disease. Our connections with other HDFCCC investigators have led to synergistic collaborations and joint funding to investigate miRNA homeostasis and function in cancer and immunity.

Research Funding

  • July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2025 - Predoctrol Training in Biomedical Sciences , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: T32GM136547
  • August 15, 2012 - July 31, 2024 - Exploring the biology of persistent type 2 airway niches in asthma , Leader, Project 2: MicroRNA networks in persistent type 2 airway niches in asthma . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: 2P01HL107202-06A1
  • July 1, 1995 - August 31, 2020 - Predoctoral Training in Biomedical Sciences , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: T32GM008568
  • May 10, 2018 - April 30, 2020 - Global analysis of T cell post-transcriptional regulatory elements , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21AI128047

Education

Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA), B.S., 1992-1996, Biochemistry
University of California, San Francisco, Ph.D., 1996-2001, Biomedical Sciences
Immune Disease Institute, Harvard Medical School, 2001-2007, Immunology

Honors & Awards

  • 1997 - 2001
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship
  • 2001 - 2004
    Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2005 - 2007
    Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Special Fellow
  • 2006 - 2012
    Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in Biomedical Sciences
  • 2007
    International Cytokine Society Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow
  • 2009 - 2012
    Dana Foundation Human Immunology Scholar
  • 2012
    American Association of Immunologists Young Investigator Travel Award
  • 2012 -
    Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar

Selected Publications

  1. Guo L, Salian S, Xue JY, Rath N, Rousseau J, Kim H, Ehresmann S, Moosa S, Nakagawa N, Kuroda H, Clayton-Smith J, Wang J, Wang Z, Banka S, Jackson A, Zhang YM, Wei ZJ, Hüning I, Brunet T, Ohashi H, Thomas MF, Bupp C, Miyake N, Matsumoto N, Mendoza-Londono R, Costain G, Hahn G, Di Donato N, Yigit G, Yamada T, Nishimura G, Ansel KM, Wollnik B, Hrabe de Angelis M, Mégarbané A, Rosenfeld JA, Heissmeyer V, Ikegawa S, Campeau PM. Null and missense mutations of ERI1 cause a recessive phenotypic dichotomy in humans. Am J Hum Genet. 2023 07 06; 110(7):1068-1085.  View on PubMed
  2. Nguyen TTT, Lu W, Zhu WS, Ansel KM, Liang HE, Weiss A. Stimulation of ectopically expressed muscarinic receptors induces IFN-γ but suppresses IL-2 production by inhibiting activation of pAKT pathways in primary T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 06 20; 120(25):e2300987120.  View on PubMed
  3. Johansson K, Gagnon JD, Zhou S, Fassett MS, Schroeder AW, Kageyama R, Bautista RA, Pham H, Woodruff PG, Ansel KM. An essential role for miR-15/16 in Treg suppression and restriction of proliferation. bioRxiv. 2023 Mar 26.  View on PubMed
  4. Dölz M, Hasiuk M, Gagnon JD, Kornete M, Marone R, Bantug G, Kageyama R, Hess C, Ansel KM, Seyres D, Roux J, Jeker LT. Forced expression of the non-coding RNA miR-17∼92 restores activation and function in CD28-deficient CD4+ T cells. iScience. 2022 Nov 18; 25(11):105372.  View on PubMed
  5. Ricardo-Gonzalez RR, Kotas ME, O'Leary CE, Singh K, Damsky W, Liao C, Arouge E, Tenvooren I, Marquez DM, Schroeder AW, Cohen JN, Fassett MS, Lee J, Daniel SG, Bittinger K, Díaz RE, Fraser JS, Ali N, Ansel KM, Spitzer MH, Liang HE, Locksley RM. Innate type 2 immunity controls hair follicle commensalism by Demodex mites. Immunity. 2022 10 11; 55(10):1891-1908.e12.  View on PubMed
  6. Burnett CE, Okholm TLH, Tenvooren I, Marquez DM, Tamaki S, Munoz Sandoval P, Willmore A, UCSF COMET Consortium, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Langelier CR, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Calfee CS, Erle DJ, Ansel KM, Spitzer MH. Mass cytometry reveals a conserved immune trajectory of recovery in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Immunity. 2022 07 12; 55(7):1284-1298.e3.  View on PubMed
  7. Stelekati E, Cai Z, Manne S, Chen Z, Beltra JC, Buchness LA, Leng X, Ristin S, Nzingha K, Ekshyyan V, Niavi C, Abdel-Hakeem MS, Ali MA, Drury S, Lau CW, Gao Z, Ban Y, Zhou SK, Ansel KM, Kurachi M, Jordan MS, Villarino AV, Ngiow SF, Wherry EJ. MicroRNA-29a attenuates CD8 T cell exhaustion and induces memory-like CD8 T cells during chronic infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 04 26; 119(17):e2106083119.  View on PubMed
  8. Bapat SP, Whitty C, Mowery CT, Liang Y, Yoo A, Jiang Z, Peters MC, Zhang LJ, Vogel I, Zhou C, Nguyen VQ, Li Z, Chang C, Zhu WS, Hastie AT, He H, Ren X, Qiu W, Gayer SG, Liu C, Choi EJ, Fassett M, Cohen JN, Sturgill JL, Crotty Alexander LE, Suh JM, Liddle C, Atkins AR, Yu RT, Downes M, Liu S, Nikolajczyk BS, Lee IK, Guttman-Yassky E, Ansel KM, Woodruff PG, Fahy JV, Sheppard D, Gallo RL, Ye CJ, Evans RM, Zheng Y, Marson A. Obesity alters pathology and treatment response in inflammatory disease. Nature. 2022 04; 604(7905):337-342.  View on PubMed
  9. Burnett CE, Okholm TLH, Tenvooren I, Marquez DM, Tamaki S, Sandoval PM, UCSF COMET Consortium, Calfee CS, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Langelier CR, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Erle DJ, Ansel KM, Spitzer MH. A conserved immune trajectory of recovery in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. bioRxiv. 2022 Mar 16.  View on PubMed
  10. Tsitsiklis A, Zha BS, Byrne A, DeVoe C, Rackaityte E, Levan S, Sunshine S, Mick E, Ghale R, Love C, Tarashansky AJ, Pisco A, Albright J, Jauregui A, Sarma A, Neff N, Serpa PH, Deiss TJ, Kistler A, Carrillo S, Ansel KM, Leligdowicz A, Christenson S, Detweiler A, Jones NG, Wu B, Darmanis S, Lynch SV, DeRisi JL, COMET Consortium, Matthay MA, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Erle DJ, Rosenberg O, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Impaired immune signaling and changes in the lung microbiome precede secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19. medRxiv. 2021 Nov 30.  View on PubMed
  11. Pua H, Ansel KM. RNA regulation in immunity. Immunol Rev. 2021 11; 304(1):5-9.  View on PubMed
  12. Wigton EJ, Mikami Y, McMonigle RJ, Castellanos CA, Wade-Vallance AK, Zhou SK, Kageyama R, Litterman A, Roy S, Kitamura D, Dykhuizen EC, Allen CDC, Hu H, O'Shea JJ, Ansel KM. MicroRNA-directed pathway discovery elucidates an miR-221/222-mediated regulatory circuit in class switch recombination. J Exp Med. 2021 11 01; 218(11).  View on PubMed
  13. Taylor KE, Ansel KM, Marson A, Criswell LA, Farh KK. PICS2: next-generation fine mapping via probabilistic identification of causal SNPs. Bioinformatics. 2021 09 29; 37(18):3004-3007.  View on PubMed
  14. Johansson K, Woodruff PG, Ansel KM. Regulation of airway immunity by epithelial miRNAs. Immunol Rev. 2021 11; 304(1):141-153.  View on PubMed
  15. Sarma A, Christenson SA, Byrne A, Mick E, Pisco AO, DeVoe C, Deiss T, Ghale R, Zha BS, Tsitsiklis A, Jauregui A, Moazed F, Detweiler AM, Spottiswoode N, Sinha P, Neff N, Tan M, Serpa PH, Willmore A, Ansel KM, Wilson JG, Leligdowicz A, Siegel ER, Sirota M, DeRisi JL, Matthay MA, COMET Consortium, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Erle DJ, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Tracheal aspirate RNA sequencing identifies distinct immunological features of COVID-19 ARDS. Nat Commun. 2021 08 26; 12(1):5152.  View on PubMed
  16. Tsitsiklis A, Zha B, Byrne A, DeVoe C, Levan S, Rackaityte E, Sunshine S, Mick E, Ghale R, Jauregui A, Neff N, Sarma A, Serpa P, Deiss T, Kistler A, Carrillo S, Ansel KM, Leligdowicz A, Christenson S, Jones N, Wu B, Darmanis S, Matthay M, Lynch S, DeRisi J, Consortium C, Hendrickson C, Kangelaris K, Krummel M, Woodruff P, Erle D, Rosenberg O, Calfee C, Langelier C. Impaired immune signaling and changes in the lung microbiome precede secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19. Res Sq. 2021 Apr 23.  View on PubMed
  17. Siddiqui S, Johansson K, Joo A, Bonser LR, Koh KD, Le Tonqueze O, Bolourchi S, Bautista RA, Zlock L, Roth TL, Marson A, Bhakta NR, Ansel KM, Finkbeiner WE, Erle DJ, Woodruff PG. Epithelial miR-141 regulates IL-13-induced airway mucus production. JCI Insight. 2021 03 08; 6(5).  View on PubMed
  18. Wigton EJ, Ansel KM. Noncoding RNAs in B cell responses. RNA Biol. 2021 05; 18(5):633-639.  View on PubMed
  19. Sarma A, Christenson SA, Mick E, DeVoe C, Deiss T, Pisco AO, Ghale R, Jauregui A, Byrne A, Moazed F, Spottiswoode N, Sinha P, Zha BS, Neff N, Tan M, Serpa PH, Ansel KM, Wilson JG, Leligdowicz A, Siegel ER, Sirota M, DeRisi JL, Matthay MA, COMET Consortium, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Erle DJ, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. COVID-19 ARDS is characterized by a dysregulated host response that differs from cytokine storm and is modified by dexamethasone. Res Sq. 2021 Jan 14.  View on PubMed
  20. Hines MJ, Coffre M, Mudianto T, Panduro M, Wigton EJ, Tegla C, Osorio-Vasquez V, Kageyama R, Benhamou D, Perez O, Bajwa S, McManus MT, Ansel KM, Melamed D, Koralov SB. miR-29 Sustains B Cell Survival and Controls Terminal Differentiation via Regulation of PI3K Signaling. Cell Rep. 2020 12 01; 33(9):108436.  View on PubMed

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