• Professor, Global Health
  • Director, Interdisciplinary Pathobiology Program

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
1100 Fairview Ave. N., E5-110
Seattle, WA 98109
United States

Phone Number: 
206-667-2217
Fax: 
206-667-2209
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Biography 

Dr. Jennifer Lund is an immunobiologist who studies regulatory T cells, or Tregs, as well as mucosal immunity to infections using both mouse models as well as human tissues. Tregs are specialized white blood cells that help to keep other immune system components from attacking a patient’s healthy tissues, as occurs in autoimmune diseases. However, Tregs also play a role in ramping up a robust immune response to help clear infectious agents or tumor cells from the body. This dual role underscores the importance of Tregs in managing the body’s powerful defenses, tuning the immune system’s response up or down as the situation warrants. Her research explores the role of Tregs in the immune responses to Herpes Simplex virus-2, West Nile virus, HIV and Zika virus infections. She also studies how the body combats infections at mucosal barriers, which separate the body from the external environment. Because the pathogens that cause the majority of infections of public health importance enter the body at these boundaries, better understanding the “first responder” immune events that occur there could help researchers design improved vaccines as well as other prevention and treatment strategies aimed at reducing the global burden of infectious diseases.

Education 
  • PhD (Yale University)
  • MS (Yale University)
  • AB (Macalester College)
Country Affiliations 
Health Topics 
  • COVID-19
  • Herpes
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Mucosal Immunology
  • Pathobiology
  • Viruses
Pathobiology research areas 
DGH Centers, Programs and Initiatives and Affiliated Organizations 
Publications 

Lund J, Sato A, Akira S, Medzhitov R, Iwasaki A. Toll-like receptor 9-mediated recognition of Herpes simplex virus-2 by plasmacytoid dendritic cells. J Exp Med 198:513-520, 2003 [PMID: 12900525].

Lund JM, Hsing L, Pham TT, Rudensky AY. Coordination of early protective immunity to viral infection by regulatory T cells. Science 320:1220-1224, 2008 [PMID: 18436744].

Graham JB, Swarts JL, Mooney M, Choonoo G, Jeng S, Miller DR, Ferris MT, McWeeney S, Lund JM. Extensive homeostatic T cell phenotypic variation within the Collaborative Cross. Cell Reports 21(8):2313-2325, 2017 [PMID:29166619].

Da Costa A, Graham JB, Swarts JL, Lund JM. Regulatory T cells limit unconventional memory to preserve the capacity to mount protective CD8 memory responses to pathogens. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 116(20):9969-9979, 2019 [PMID: 31036644].

Pattacini L, Woodward Davis, A, Czartoski J, Mair F, Presnell S, Hughes SM, Lentz GM, Kirby AC, Fialkow MF, Hladik F, Prlic M, Lund JM. A pro-inflammatory CD8+ T cell subset patrols the cervicovaginal tract. In press at Mucosal Immunology, 2019.