Education
B.S., University of California, Los Angeles (2003)
M.S., Cal State University, Los Angeles (2005)
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine (2009)
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (2009-2011)

Teaching
Cell Biology (310)
Cancer Biology (420)
Immunology (422)
Senior Seminar (493)

Research
Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in Dendritic Cells
Immunological Synapse between Dendritic cells and T cells
Dendritic cell based vaccines
Neuroimmunological role of Microglial cells


Awards, Grants, and Service
Visiting Professor, Lincoln University, PA (2009-2011)
NIH K12 IRACDA Fellowship (2009-2012)
ASCB Visiting Professor Scholar (2012-2013)

Research Detailed:

The laboratory studies the role of the adaptive immune system, specifically focusing on the interaction between Dendritic cells and T cells in the periphery. It is our hope to learn the basic mechanisms of how Dendritic cells regulate T cell effector responses towards immunity vs. tolerance. We specifically are interested in how the cytoskeleton can coordinate and orchestrate responder T cells to a myriad of effector responses, ranging from complete tolerance (whether by anergy or suppression (i.e. Foxp3 Tregulatory cells) or induction of potent immune responses and that can border on pathological results (i.e. autoimmunity). Ultimately, we hope that understanding the role of how the Dendritic cell communicates with T cells, and through cross-talk, we can then develop translational tools, such as dendritic cell-based vaccines or adoptive T cell therapy techniques to treat infectious diseases and cancer or inhibit aberrant autoimmunity through suppressive mechanisms.

A second focus of the lab is to study the neuroimmunological interface between the antigen presenting cells of the brain, microglia, and how they regulate immunity and modulate specific T cell and B cell responses in the the central nervous system. Very little information is known about the importance between the central nervous system/brain and immune system, but a new, emerging field of neuroimmunology has begun to recognize and accept the dynamic, interplay between the two highly evolved vertebrate systems

Publications

	Yamakita Y, Matsumura F, Lipscomb MW, Chou PC, Werlen G, Burkhardt JK, Yamashiro S. Fascin1 promotes cell migration of mature dendritic cells. 2011 Mar 1;186(5):2850-9. Epub 2011 Jan 24.
	DC expressing transgene Foxp3 are regulatory APC.Lipscomb MW, Taylor JL, Goldbach CJ, Watkins SC, Wesa AK, Storkus WJ.Eur J Immunol. 2010 Feb;40(2):480-93
	Ectopic T-bet expression licenses dendritic cells for IL-12-independent priming of type 1 T cells in vitro.Lipscomb MW, Chen L, Taylor JL, Goldbach C, Watkins SC, Kalinski P, Butterfield LH, Wesa AK, Storkus WJ.J Immunol. 2009 Dec 1;183(11):7250-8. Epub 2009 Nov 13.