Renowned immunologist to speak April 8 at IU School of Medicine

The immune system protects our bodies every day, quietly detecting danger and restoring balance. When it works well, we rarely notice it. When it doesn’t, the results — cancer, autoimmune disease, chronic inflammation or severe infection, to name a few — can be devastating. 

Few scientists have done more to explain how this system works and how we might safely guide it than Jenny Ting, PhD. Ting is the most recent winner of the Mark Brothers Award, presented by the Indiana University School of Medicine to recognize nationally and internationally renowned medical scientists of Asian descent. She will present a lecture on her discoveries April 8 at the school.

Who is Jenny Ting?

Ting is the William Rand Kenan Distinguished Professor of Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the founding director of UNC’s Center for Translational Immunology. She is also the director of the Center for Translational Immunology and senior member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, both at UNC.

Trained as a molecular immunologist, she has spent her career studying how immune cells sense danger, communicate with one another and decide when to turn inflammation on — or off.

Over four decades, she has become one of the world’s most frequently cited immunologists, authoring more than 360 scientific papers and mentoring more than 100 trainees who now lead laboratories, clinical programs and companies around the world. 

A pioneer of discoveries in innate immunity

Ting is best known for discovering and defining the NOD-like receptor (NLR) family of innate immune sensors — a set of proteins in our cells that act as that our bodies use as a first line of defense against danger. Her research revealed how these innate immune sensors detect infections, regulate inflammation and shape the body’s responses to cancer, autoimmune disorders, brain injury and viral diseases. 

Equally important, her lab showed that some NLRs limit inflammation, rather than amplify it, providing critical insight into how the immune system avoids self-destruction by shutting down inflammation before it goes too far — an important protection against chronic disease.

Ting’s earlier work on MHC class II gene regulation — how immune cells control when and how to turn on the genes that allow them to display pieces of germs or tumors on their surface so other immune cells, especially CD4+ T cells, know when to respond — also laid foundational knowledge for understanding processes that are central to vaccines, autoimmune disease and cancer immunotherapy.

Changing medicine and healthcare

Ting’s work directly informs how clinicians and researchers think about treating disease, opening doors to new therapeutic strategies. Her discoveries form much of the scientific foundation behind today’s efforts to:

• Develop new cancer immunotherapies.
• Improve vaccines.
• Treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
• Understand and repair nerve damage.
• Use the microbiome to improve human health.
• Strengthen our response to infections, including COVID-19.

Ting is also a co-founder of IMMvention Therapeutix, a company working to turn discoveries about the immune system into new treatments that can better control inflammation and disease in patients.

National and international recognition

Ting’s work has caught the attention of several national and international organizations, who have honored her with awards and leadership positions.

Her leadership roles include:

• Election to the National Academy of Sciences.
• Election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Election to Academia Sinica.
• American Association of Immunologists (president, vice president and council member).
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund (board of directors vice chair).
• National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections and advisory councils.
• Editorial boards for Immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Annual Review of Immunology.

Her awards include:

• International Cytokine & Interferon Society’s ICIS-Pfizer Award for Excellence in Interferon and Cytokine Research.
• University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill’s Hyman L. Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award.
• American Association of Immunologists’ AAI Meritorious Career Award.
• IU School of Medicine’s Mark Brothers Award.

Why attend her lecture at IU School of Medicine?

Ting is a world-class scientist who is known for being an exceptional communicator. Her presentations have been recognized as being clear, energizing and deeply insightful, connecting complex immunology with real-world medical impact.

Because her work spans basic science and clinical relevance, her talk will be valuable for basic scientists, clinicians, medical students and trainees, and anyone interested in inflammation, infection, cancer, autoimmunity, immunotherapy, neurology or the microbiome.

Her lecture at the IU School of Medicine will be a source of inspiration for those who are interested in building bridges between basic science and patient care.