Austin van Loon

About

Austin van Loon is the Class of 1956 Career Development Assistant Professor and an Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a standing faculty member of the Organization Studies program, a core faculty member of the Economic Sociology program, and a faculty member of the Managerial Communications group. Van Loon's research examines how people make sense of the world around them, and how that process shapes what they do—especially in contexts of disagreement, ambiguity, and conflict. His substantive research explores topics such as how groups define belonging, manage internal differences, and respond to new technologies, including recent work on the cultural sources of immigration attitudes, the influence of online platform design on political conversation, organizational cohesion amidst internal disagreements, and the impact of artificial intelligence on higher education. Additionally, Van Loon develops methodological tools and frameworks for applying artificial intelligence rigorously in social science research, including experimental designs that combine AI predictions with human data, analysis of human language to measure cultural differences, and software to improve research design. He teaches Communication for Leaders, a core MBA course aimed at equipping students with persuasive strategic communication skills essential for organizational change.

Research topics

• Biology
• Immunology
• Genetics
• Pathology
• Neuroscience
• Medicine
• Cell biology
• Computational biology

Selected publications

• Neuronal DNA double-strand breaks lead to genome structural variations and 3D genome disruption in neurodegeneration

  Cell · 2023 · 126 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Cdk5-derived peptide inhibits Cdk5/p25 activity and improves neurodegenerative phenotypes

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-04-12 · 54 citations

  articleOpen access

  Aberrant activity of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk5) has been implicated in various neurodegenerative diseases. This deleterious effect is mediated by pathological cleavage of the Cdk5 activator p35 into the truncated product p25, leading to prolonged Cdk5 activation and altered substrate specificity. Elevated p25 levels have been reported in humans and rodents with neurodegeneration, and the benefit of genetically blocking p25 production has been demonstrated previously in rodent and human neuro…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• <scp>iPSC</scp>‐derived microglia carrying the <scp>TREM2 R47H</scp>/+ mutation are proinflammatory and promote synapse loss

  Glia · 2023-11-15 · 41 citations

  articleOpen access

  Genetic findings have highlighted key roles for microglia in the pathology of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). A number of mutations in the microglial protein triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) have been associated with increased risk for developing AD, most notably the R47H/+ substitution. We employed gene editing and stem cell models to gain insight into the effects of the TREM2 R47H/+ mutation on human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived m…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Engineered 3D Immuno-Glial-Neurovascular Human miBrain Model

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2023-08-17 · 15 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Patient-specific, human-based cellular models integrating a biomimetic blood-brain barrier (BBB), immune, and myelinated neuron components are critically needed to enable accelerated, translationally relevant discovery of neurological disease mechanisms and interventions. By engineering a novel brain-mimicking 3D hydrogel and co-culturing all six major brain cell types derived from patient iPSCs, we have constructed, characterized, and utilized a multicellular integrated brain (miBrain)…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Engineered 3D immuno-glial-neurovascular human miBrain model

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2025-10-17 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Patient-specific, human-based cellular models integrating a biomimetic blood–brain barrier, immune, and myelinated neuron components are critically needed to enable accelerated, translationally relevant discovery of neurological disease mechanisms and interventions. To construct a human cell-based model that includes these features and all six major brain cell types needed to mimic disease and dissect pathological mechanisms, we have constructed, characterized, and utilized a multicellular integ…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Li‐Huei Tsai

  24 shared

• Manolis Kellis

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  20 shared

• Oyku Cerit

  Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences

  13 shared

• Nhat Truong

  Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences

  8 shared

• Rebecca L. Pinals

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  8 shared

• Róbert Langer

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  8 shared

• Joel Blanchard

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  8 shared

• Emre Agbas

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  8 shared

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