Jasmin Herz, PhD

Division

• Immunobiology

Education

• B.Sc. (Cand.rer.nat.) Biology – University of Cologne, Germany
• M.Sc. (Dipl. Biol.), Genetics – University of Cologne, Germany
• Ph.D. (Dr.rer.nat.), Genetics & Immunology, magna cum laude, University of Cologne, Germany
• Postdoc, Neurovirology – The National Institutes of Health, NINDS

Personal Research Website

Kipnis Lab

Research Interests

My interest in how an immune response can be detrimental or beneficial to the brain and spinal cord guides much of my research. It has led me to explore aspects of lethal meningitis, successful immunotherapy of viral persistence, and migration of immune cells through meningeal lymphatic vessels during autoimmune mediated encephalomyelitis. The crosstalk between neurons and immune cells is very complex and contributes to patterns of everyday life. Therefore, investigating how T cells and their derived cytokines, as well as peripheral inflammation affects neuronal function and basic behaviors has become a major focus. Overall, my research crosses the disciplines of immunology, virology, and neuroscience and circles around the idea that neither system is self-regulated and they all function in alliance.

Selected Publications

Salvador AFM, Dykstra T, Rustenhoven J, Gao W, Blackburn SM, Bhasiin K, Dong MQ, Guimarães RM, Gonuguntla S, Smirnov I, Kipnis J, Herz J. Age-dependent immune and lymphatic responses after spinal cord injury. Neuron. 2023Jul 19;111(14):2155 -2169.e9. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627323002969?via%3Dihub

Goldman DH, Dykstra T, Smirnov I, Blackburn SM, Da Mesquita S, Kipnis J, Herz J. Age-associated suppression of exploratory activity during sickness is linked to meningeal lymphatic dysfunction and microglia activation. Nature Aging. 2, 705-713 (2022). https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-022-00268-y

Herz J#, Fu Z#, Kim K,Dykstra T, Wall M, Di H, Salvador AF, Zou B, Yan N, Blackburn SM, Andrews PH, Goldman DH, Papadopoulos Z, Smirnov I, Xie XS, Kipnis J. GABAergic neuronal IL-4R mediates T cell effect on memory. Neuron. 2021 Nov 17;109(22):3609-3618.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2021.10.022. #contributed equally.

Da Mesquita S#, Herz J#, Wall M, Dykstra T, de Lima KA, Norris GT, Dabhi N, Kennedy T, Baker W, Kipnis J. Aging-associated deficit in CCR7 is linked to worsened glymphatic function, cognition, neuroinflammation, and β-amyloid pathology. Science Advances 2021 May 21;7(21):eabe4601.http://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe4601 . #contributed equally.

Rosshart, SP, Herz J, Vassallo BG, Hunter A, Wall MK, Badger JA, McCulloch JA, Anastasakis DG, Sarshad AA, Leonard I, Collins N, Blatter JA, Han S, Tamoutounour S, Potapova S, Foster St Claire MB, Yuan W, Sen SK, Hild B, Hafner M, Wang D, Iliev ID, Belkaid Y, Trinchieri G, Rehermann B. Laboratory mice born to wild mice have a natural microbiota and model human immune responses. Science. 2019 Aug 2;365(6452). http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw4361

Herz J, Filiano AJ, Smith A, Yogev N, Kipnis J. Myeloid Cells in the Central Nervous System. Immunity. Review. 2017 Jun 20;46(6):943-956. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2017.06.007

Louveau A#, Herz J#, Alme MN, Salvador AF, Dong MQ, Viar KE, Herod SG, Knopp J, Setliff JC, Lupi AL, Da Mesquita S, Frost EL, Gaultier A, Harris TH, Cao R, Hu S, Lukens JR, Smirnov I, Overall CC, Oliver G, Kipnis J. CNS lymphatic drainage and neuroinflammation are regulated by meningeal lymphatic vasculature. Nature Neuroscience 2018 Oct;21(10):1380-1391. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0227-9 . #contributed equally

Herz J, Johnson KR, McGavern DB. Therapeutic antiviral T cells noncytopathically clear persistently infected microglia after Conversion into antigen-presentingcells.Journal Experimental Medicine 2015 Jul 27;212(8):1153-69. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20142047

Herz J#, Pardo J#, Kashkar H, Schramm M, Kuzmenkina E, Bos E, Wiegmann K, Wallich R, Peters PJ, Herzig S, Schmelzer E, Krönke, M., Simon MM, Utermöhlen O. Acid sphingomyelinase is a critical regulator of cytotoxic granule secretion by primary T lymphocytes. Nature Immunology 10(7):761-8, 2009. http://doi.org/10.1038/ni.1757. #contributed equally.

---

Assistant
Tracy Duckett
314-273-2288
duckettt@wustl.edu