Jun Jin Email & Phone Number

Shanghai, China

Palo Alto, California, United States

Older individuals have increased morbidity and mortality from infections with newly as well as previously encountered pathogens. Most noticeable are the increased susceptibility during the annual influenza epidemic and, most recently, the increased risk for developing severe disease following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccination holds the promise of a cost-effective intervention; however, vaccine responses are generally poor in the elderly and at best ameliorate disease. After vaccination or infection, antigen-specific T cells follow a typical sequence of events. First, they exponentially expand and differentiate into effector cells including follicular helper cells that control the activation of B cells and the generation of antibodies. While most of these effector cells undergo apoptosis, a small subset constitutes memory T cell precursors that differentiate into long-lived memory cells. My major objective of immune aging research therefore is to identify defects in adaptive immune responses that impair the generation of immune memory and that can be successfully targeted for reverse. Please find two of my recent 1st author publications regarding on the role of lysosomal dysfunction in regulating T cell aging and reduced immunity in older individuals: (1) Science Advances: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/17/eaba1808; (2) Science Immunology: https://immunology.sciencemag.org/content/6/60/eabg0791. Completed publication lists could also be found in my google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FasYFYYAAAAJ&hl=en