Jason G. Cyster
University of California, San Francisco
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Primary Section: 43, Immunology and Inflammation Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2014)
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Biosketch
Jason Cyster is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. Cyster is an Immunologist recognized for his work on the cues guiding immune cell movements in lymphoid organs and for defining the mechanism of lymphocyte egress from tissues. He is also known for his use of real-time 2-photon microscopy to study immune cell migration and interaction dynamics within tissues during antibody responses. Cyster was born in Western Australia and grew up on a cattle farm in the south of the state. He graduated from the University of Western Australia with a degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology and from the University of Oxford with a D.Phil. in Immunology in 1992. He was a postdoctoral fellow in immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine and he joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco in 1995.
Research Interests
My laboratory studies how cells and antigens come together to generate immune responses. This involves a focus on deciphering the cues that guide immune cell movements within, and egress from, lymphoid organs. G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a major class of chemoattractant receptor on immune cells and we have used gain- and loss-of function approaches to establish roles for several GPCRs that respond to protein (chemokine), lipid (sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), oxysterol) and metabolite (S-geranylgeranyl-L-glutathione) ligands and to study how these responses adapt after exposure to antigen or inflammatory inputs. We established that lymphocyte egress from lymphoid organs is mediated by S1PR1 and defined mechanisms acting to maintain high S1P at egress sites. We have a strong interest in understanding how cell interaction dynamics influence the selection events underlying antibody affinity maturation. We use real-time intravital 2-photon microscopy to study these dynamics and are working on tools for the in vivo quantitation of cell-cell interaction and cell signaling in germinal centers. Our studies are also informative about pathways leading to lymphomagenesis. We study requirements for mounting long-lived antibody (plasma cell and memory B cell) responses and the derangements associated with autoantibody responses. We also explore requirements for barrier immunity at epithelial surfaces.
