Professor, Scripps Research
John Teijaro, Ph.D. serves on the Faculty of Scripps Research where he heads up The Teijaro Lab. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology.
The focus of the Teijaro Lab is understanding how immune suppressive and pathological environments are generated, maintained and reversed, with a specific focusing on how type 1 interferon (IFN-I) production and signaling regulates these two states. To address these questions, we employ the LCMV clone-13 (Cl13) viral model (immunosuppression) and various acute viral infections such as LCMV Armstrong 53b, Influenza, VSV and more recently SARS-CoV-2 (virus control/Immunopathology) mouse models. Our primary focus has been on understanding how IFN-I signaling promotes both immune suppressive and pathological states following persistent and acute viral infection, respectively. Using genetic, biochemical and small molecule tools we take a global approach to understand how IFN-I and various other cytokines promote both inflammatory and immune suppressive environments.
Recent key advances/publications include research on how the Interferon stimulated genes Usp18/Isg15 regulate immune pathology and virus persistence, the role of JAK inhibition in reversing immune suppression in conjunction with checkpoint blockade in persistent viral infection and cancer and the study and identification of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antivirals, antibodies and immune modulatory treatments to control COVID19 disease.
In 2022, John was honored by Scripps Research for his exceptional contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his laboratory team spearheaded animal studies that have enabled critical Scripps research into SARS-CoV-2. Their contributions are accelerating the understanding of COVID-19 and opening paths to the development of much-needed interventions/therapeutics.
John received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine in 2009.