Ari B Molofsky
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Microbiology & Immunology
The brain is shielded from much of the immune system. Its borders, however, such as the meninges (the protective membranes that wrap it), hold many immune cells and support cells called fibroblasts.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Neuroscience
- Topics
neuroimmunology
fibroblasts
brain injury
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through May 2029
What they work on
- Test how early injury-associated myofibroblasts, which depend on TGFβ signaling and macrophages, limit brain lesion size and loss of function in mouse models of brain injury.
- Identify the cells and signals that switch brain fibroblasts from a wound-closing myofibroblast state to a long-lived immune-supporting state, and test how these immunofibroblasts control T-cell build-up.
- Determine which brain cells, including microglia and border-associated macrophages, respond to IL-13 from meningeal ILC2s to shape inhibitory GABA synapses and social memory during development.
- Test whether IL-33 from meningeal adventitial fibroblasts supports ILC2 expansion, and whether ILC2s and IL-13 aid inhibitory synapse remodeling after photothrombotic brain injury.
- Define how IFNγ from T cells keeps ILC2s and Th2 cells out of deep tissue niches during mixed inflammation, using mice lacking IFNγ signaling in these cells.
- Map how type 2 lymphocytes travel through blood to re-enter lung and liver tissue, using organ transplantation, photoconversion, parabiosis and cell transfers, and identify what their IL-13 targets.
More about the research
Immune signals shape brain wiring during development and repair after injury, and when they go wrong they are linked to autism, schizophrenia and poor recovery. The lab asks how immune cells and fibroblasts at brain borders and in other organs communicate, and how where these cells sit changes what they do. Two projects focus on the brain, after injury and during development. A third looks at allergy-type immune cells in organs such as the lung and liver.
Why it matters
Brain injury, neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, and allergic diseases such as asthma and fibrosis all involve immune signaling that has gone off balance. By identifying the fibroblasts, ILC2s and signals such as IL-13, IL-33 and IFNγ that control these responses, the work could guide therapies that target support cells or redirect immune cells to improve brain recovery or limit organ damage.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Distinct early and late programs of fibroblast - immune crosstalk govern functional responses to brain injury
NIH · Jul 2024 – May 2029
Meningeal type 2 immunity in cortical synapse remodeling during brain development and injury
NIH · Feb 2022 – Dec 2026
Localization and function of tissue type 2 lymphocytes during mixed inflammation
NIH · Jan 2022 – Dec 2026
Closest labs
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Edward Pearce
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how multipotent progenitor cells, stromal cells in gut-associated fat that can become fibroblasts or fat cells, shape mouse resistance to the intestinal worm Heligmosomoides polygyrus, using RNA-seq, ATAC-seq and loss-of-function mouse models.
Stephanie Eisenbarth
Northwestern University, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether gut B cells must switch to IgG1 before switching to IgA to generate the highest-affinity IgA after oral immunization in mice, and map where this sequential switching occurs in mouse and human Peyer's patches using imaging and spatial transcriptomics.
The school
University of California-San Francisco: 89 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 164 research doctorates a year.
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