Research Summary

I have 20 years experience managing an NIH- and HHMI-funded immunology research laboratory. My research has involved defining the intercellular communications acting between immune cells to support adaptive immune responses. My group uses immunological, genetic, cell biological, and advanced imaging techniques to study these processes. Although many of our studies are performed using the mouse as a model, in several cases we have translated their work to humans, such as our recent identification of a novel gene pathway that is disrupted in germinal center B cell-type diffuse large B cell lymphoma (GCB-DLBCL).

I have been a research mentor for a large number graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and clinical fellows. Many of my early trainees, including three past graduate students and fourteen postdoctoral fellows, are now Assistant or Associate Professors, and a number of both types of trainees hold scientist positions in the biotech sector. I have had a long-standing commitment to education with my involvement in teaching in immunology and cell biology courses in the graduate and professional schools at UCSF, and I give several teaching lectures for other professional organizations each year. As Director of the BMS graduate program from 2005-2014, I have had a leadership role in promoting graduate education at UCSF and beyond.

Research Funding

  • April 1, 1997 - March 31, 2022 - B lymphocyte Migration and Homeostasis, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIAID, Sponsor Award ID: R01AI040098
  • June 1, 2007 - May 31, 2017 - Cellular and Genetic Analysis of Lymphocyte Egress, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIAID, Sponsor Award ID: R01AI074847
  • September 1, 1988 - May 31, 2014 - Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIAID, Sponsor Award ID: T32AI007334
  • April 1, 1999 - March 31, 2014 - Chemokines and Lymphoid Tissue Organization and Function, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIAID, Sponsor Award ID: R01AI045073

Education

University of Western Australia, B.S., 1988, Biochemistry and Microbiology
University of Oxford, England, D.Phil., 1992, Immunology
Stanford Univ. Med Center, Stanford, CA, PD Fellow, 1992-1995, Immunology

Honors & Awards

  • 1984
    The Beazely Award for secondary education in Western Australia
  • 1988
    J.A. Wood Memorial prize from the University of Western Australia
  • 1989-1992
    Commonwealth Overseas Studentship
  • 1992-1995
    Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 1996-2000
    Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences
  • 1997
    Cheryl Whitlock Memorial Prize for Postdoctoral Studies
  • 1998-2003
    David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship
  • 2005
    AAI BD Biosciences Investigator Award
  • 2005
    External Speaker, Harvard Medical School Annual Immunology Retreat
  • 2009
    Alexandre Goidl Memorial Lectureship, University of Maryland Baltimore
  • 2009
    Keynote Speaker, Microanatomy of Immune Responses in Health and Disease, Birmingham, UK
  • 2010
    Organizing Committee Member, International Congress of Immunology, Kobe, Japan
  • 2010
    Keynote Presentation, Antibody Biology & Engineering Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA
  • 2010
    14th Köhler Lecture in Immunology, University of Freiburg, Germany
  • 2010
    CRI Fredrick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology
  • 2011
    Distinguished Lecture, AAI Annual Meeting, San Francisco
  • 2011
    Elected as an AAAS Fellow
  • 2013
    Keynote Speaker, 14th International TNF conference
  • 2013
    Keynote Speaker, FASEB Meeting on Lysophospholipids
  • 2013
    Keynote Speaker, Gordon Conference on Follicular helper T cells.
  • 2018
    Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Selected Publications

  1. Gallman AE, Wolfreys FD, Nguyen DN, Sandy M, Xu Y, An J, Li Z, Marson A, Lu E, Cyster JG. Abcc1 and Ggt5 support lymphocyte guidance through export and catabolism of S-geranylgeranyl-l-glutathione. Sci Immunol. 2021 Jun 04; 6(60).  View on PubMed
  2. Vanderkerken M, Baptista AP, De Giovanni M, Fukuyama S, Browaeys R, Scott CL, Norris PS, Eberl G, Di Santo JP, Vivier E, Saeys Y, Hammad H, Cyster JG, Ware CF, Tumanov AV, De Trez C, Lambrecht BN. ILC3s control splenic cDC homeostasis via lymphotoxin signaling. J Exp Med. 2021 May 03; 218(5).  View on PubMed
  3. McMahon DE, Gallman AE, Hruza GJ, Rosenbach M, Lipoff JB, Desai SR, French LE, Lim H, Cyster JG, Fox LP, Fassett MS, Freeman EE. Long COVID in the skin: a registry analysis of COVID-19 dermatological duration. Lancet Infect Dis. 2021 03; 21(3):313-314.  View on PubMed
  4. Liu D, Wu J, An J, Cyster JG. Requirements for cDC2 positioning in blood-exposed regions of the neonatal and adult spleen. J Exp Med. 2020 11 02; 217(11).  View on PubMed
  5. Laidlaw BJ, Cyster JG. Transcriptional regulation of memory B cell differentiation. Nat Rev Immunol. 2021 04; 21(4):209-220.  View on PubMed
  6. Whitman JD, Hiatt J, Mowery CT, Shy BR, Yu R, Yamamoto TN, Rathore U, Goldgof GM, Whitty C, Woo JM, Gallman AE, Miller TE, Levine AG, Nguyen DN, Bapat SP, Balcerek J, Bylsma SA, Lyons AM, Li S, Wong AW, Gillis-Buck EM, Steinhart ZB, Lee Y, Apathy R, Lipke MJ, Smith JA, Zheng T, Boothby IC, Isaza E, Chan J, Acenas DD, Lee J, Macrae TA, Kyaw TS, Wu D, Ng DL, Gu W, York VA, Eskandarian HA, Callaway PC, Warrier L, Moreno ME, Levan J, Torres L, Farrington LA, Loudermilk RP, Koshal K, Zorn KC, Garcia-Beltran WF, Yang D, Astudillo MG, Bernstein BE, Gelfand JA, Ryan ET, Charles RC, Iafrate AJ, Lennerz JK, Miller S, Chiu CY, Stramer SL, Wilson MR, Manglik A, Ye CJ, Krogan NJ, Anderson MS, Cyster JG, Ernst JD, Wu AHB, Lynch KL, Bern C, Hsu PD, Marson A. Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 serology assays reveals a range of test performance. Nat Biotechnol. 2020 10; 38(10):1174-1183.  View on PubMed
  7. Laidlaw BJ, Duan L, Xu Y, Vazquez SE, Cyster JG. The transcription factor Hhex cooperates with the corepressor Tle3 to promote memory B cell development. Nat Immunol. 2020 09; 21(9):1082-1093.  View on PubMed
  8. Graney PL, Lai K, Post S, Brito I, Cyster J, Singh A. Organoid Polymer Functionality and Mode of Klebsiella Pneumoniae Membrane Antigen Presentation Regulates Ex Vivo Germinal Center Epigenetics in Young and Aged B Cells. Adv Funct Mater. 2020 Nov 25; 30(48).  View on PubMed
  9. Pirgova G, Chauveau A, MacLean AJ, Cyster JG, Arnon TI. Marginal zone SIGN-R1+ macrophages are essential for the maturation of germinal center B cells in the spleen. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 06 02; 117(22):12295-12305.  View on PubMed
  10. Whitman JD, Hiatt J, Mowery CT, Shy BR, Yu R, Yamamoto TN, Rathore U, Goldgof GM, Whitty C, Woo JM, Gallman AE, Miller TE, Levine AG, Nguyen DN, Bapat SP, Balcerek J, Bylsma SA, Lyons AM, Li S, Wong AW, Gillis-Buck EM, Steinhart ZB, Lee Y, Apathy R, Lipke MJ, Smith JA, Zheng T, Boothby IC, Isaza E, Chan J, Acenas DD, Lee J, Macrae TA, Kyaw TS, Wu D, Ng DL, Gu W, York VA, Eskandarian HA, Callaway PC, Warrier L, Moreno ME, Levan J, Torres L, Farrington LA, Loudermilk R, Koshal K, Zorn KC, Garcia-Beltran WF, Yang D, Astudillo MG, Bernstein BE, Gelfand JA, Ryan ET, Charles RC, Iafrate AJ, Lennerz JK, Miller S, Chiu CY, Stramer SL, Wilson MR, Manglik A, Ye CJ, Krogan NJ, Anderson MS, Cyster JG, Ernst JD, Wu AHB, Lynch KL, Bern C, Hsu PD, Marson A. Test performance evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 serological assays. medRxiv. 2020 May 17.  View on PubMed
  11. Mintz MA, Cyster JG. T follicular helper cells in germinal center B cell selection and lymphomagenesis. Immunol Rev. 2020 07; 296(1):48-61.  View on PubMed
  12. Cheng J, Klei LR, Hubel NE, Zhang M, Schairer R, Maurer LM, Klei HB, Kang H, Concel VJ, Delekta PC, Dang EV, Mintz MA, Baens M, Cyster JG, Parameswaran N, Thome M, Lucas PC, McAllister-Lucas LM. GRK2 suppresses lymphomagenesis by inhibiting the MALT1 proto-oncoprotein. J Clin Invest. 2020 02 03; 130(2):1036-1051.  View on PubMed
  13. Mintz MA, Felce JH, Chou MY, Mayya V, Xu Y, Shui JW, An J, Li Z, Marson A, Okada T, Ware CF, Kronenberg M, Dustin ML, Cyster JG. The HVEM-BTLA Axis Restrains T Cell Help to Germinal Center B Cells and Functions as a Cell-Extrinsic Suppressor in Lymphomagenesis. Immunity. 2019 08 20; 51(2):310-323.e7.  View on PubMed
  14. Laidlaw BJ, Gray EE, Zhang Y, Ramírez-Valle F, Cyster JG. Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 2 restrains egress of ?d T cells from the skin. J Exp Med. 2019 07 01; 216(7):1487-1496.  View on PubMed
  15. Lu E, Cyster JG. G-protein coupled receptors and ligands that organize humoral immune responses. Immunol Rev. 2019 05; 289(1):158-172.  View on PubMed
  16. Cyster JG, Allen CDC. B Cell Responses: Cell Interaction Dynamics and Decisions. Cell. 2019 04 18; 177(3):524-540.  View on PubMed
  17. Lu E, Wolfreys FD, Muppidi JR, Xu Y, Cyster JG. S-Geranylgeranyl-L-glutathione is a ligand for human B cell-confinement receptor P2RY8. Nature. 2019 03; 567(7747):244-248.  View on PubMed
  18. Dang EV, Cyster JG. Loss of sterol metabolic homeostasis triggers inflammasomes?-?how and why. Curr Opin Immunol. 2019 02; 56:1-9.  View on PubMed
  19. Wu J, Wu H, An J, Ballantyne CM, Cyster JG. Critical role of integrin CD11c in splenic dendritic cell capture of missing-self CD47 cells to induce adaptive immunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 06 26; 115(26):6786-6791.  View on PubMed
  20. Rodda LB, Lu E, Bennett ML, Sokol CL, Wang X, Luther SA, Barres BA, Luster AD, Ye CJ, Cyster JG. Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Lymph Node Stromal Cells Reveals Niche-Associated Heterogeneity. Immunity. 2018 05 15; 48(5):1014-1028.e6.  View on PubMed

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