Juan J. Lafaille

About

Juan J. Lafaille, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Cell Biology and the Department of Pathology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His research focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of autoimmune and allergic diseases, cancer, and immunology. His laboratory uses transgenic and knockout mice to study the molecular mechanisms responsible for the normal control of T-lymphocyte reactivity and the changes that occur when T-lymphocytes become either aggressive against self antigens or inappropriately reactive against environmental substances. Currently, his work includes examining the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for multiple sclerosis, in transgenic mice bearing anti-myelin basic protein (MBP) T-lymphocytes, and investigating factors controlling the synthesis of interleukins involved in asthma, such as IL-4 and IL-5, and the increased production of immunoglobulin E.

Research topics

• Biology
• Medicine
• Immunology
• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Internal medicine
• Endocrinology
• Cell biology

Selected publications

• Regulatory T Cells License Macrophage Pro-Resolving Functions During Atherosclerosis Regression

  Circulation Research · 2020 · 253 citations

  RATIONALE: Regression of atherosclerosis is an important clinical goal; however, the pathways that mediate the resolution of atherosclerotic inflammation and reversal of plaques are poorly understood. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been shown to be atheroprotective, yet the numbers of these immunosuppressive cells decrease with disease progression, and whether they contribute to atherosclerosis regression is not known. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the roles of Tregs in the resolution of atheroscl…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Vasculature-associated fat macrophages readily adapt to inflammatory and metabolic challenges

  The Journal of Experimental Medicine · 2019-03-12 · 152 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Tissue-resident macrophages are the most abundant immune cell population in healthy adipose tissue. Adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) change during metabolic stress and are thought to contribute to metabolic syndrome. Here, we studied ATM subpopulations in steady state and in response to nutritional and infectious challenges. We found that tissue-resident macrophages from healthy epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) tightly associate with blood vessels, displaying very high endocytic capacity.…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Visceral Adipose Tissue Leukocytes Reveals that Caloric Restriction Following Obesity Promotes the Accumulation of a Distinct Macrophage Population with Features of Phagocytic Cells

  Immunometabolism · 2019-07-01 · 113 citations

  articleOpen access

  Obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes and is an epidemic. A major contributor to its adverse effects is inflammation of the visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Life-long caloric restriction (CR), in contrast, results in extended lifespan, enhanced glucose tolerance/insulin sensitivity, and other favorable phenotypes. The effects of CR following obesity are incompletely established, but studies show multiple benefits. Many leukocyte types, macrophages predominantly, reside in VAT in homeostatic and path…

  PublisherDOI

• Niche-Selective Inhibition of Pathogenic Th17 Cells by Targeting Metabolic Redundancy

  Cell · 2020 · 110 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Food colorants metabolized by commensal bacteria promote colitis in mice with dysregulated expression of interleukin-23

  Cell Metabolism · 2021 · 97 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AI045654

  NIH · $1.5M · 2006

• NIH Grant R56AI088553

  NIH · $423k · 2011

• NIH Grant R56AI041647

  NIH · $821k · 2011

Frequent coauthors

• Susumu Tonegawa

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  283 shared

• Shigeyoshi Itohara

  RIKEN Center for Brain Science

  232 shared

• Marc Bonneville

  Institut Mérieux (France)

  226 shared

• Yohtaroh Takagaki

  University of Washington

  222 shared

• Andrew G. Farr

  University of Washington

  218 shared

• Peter Mombaerts

  Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics

  215 shared

• Ralph T. Kubo

  University of Occupational and Environmental Health Japan

  202 shared

• Charles A. Janeway

  St. John’s Health Sciences Centre

  201 shared

Labs

• Health Tech HubPI

Similar researchers at New York University

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• Andrea H. Brandh-80
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