Medical School scientist wins Pew Scholarship

Jenny Gumperz, an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, has been named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences.

Gumperz joins 14 other scientists identified as “America’s most promising biomedical researchers” and will receive $240,000 to help support her research over a four-year period. Funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts through a grant to the University of California, San Francisco, the highly selective program identifies and invests in extremely talented early- to mid-career scientists.

Gumperz will use the award to continue her studies of cells that influence the way the human immune system responds to different types of infectious agents.

“In the last decade, it has become apparent that certain gatekeeper cells, called dendritic cells, tell the body when it is in danger and needs to fight back,” Gumperz explains.

Immunologists now realize that there are many sub-types of dendritic cells, and different kinds can be responsible for different types of immune responses.” Gumperz’ research focuses on how immune responses may be regulated by a kind of white blood cell – an unusual type of T lymphocyte called an NKT cell – that she has found affects dendritic cell function.

“Understanding the interaction between these cells may lead to the ability to design new therapies to boost immune responses to infections or in cancer,” she says. “The knowledge may also point to ways to dampen immune responses in autoimmune diseases, conditions in which the immune system starts to inappropriately attack body tissue.”

Gumperz joined the Medical School faculty in 2003.