简介
Born in Homburg/ Saar, Germany, Steffen Jung began his undergraduate studies at the University of Bonn, and then moved to the Institute of Genetics in Cologne, where he performed his Ph.D. in the Department of Immunology headed by Klaus Rajewsky under the guidance of Andreas Radbruch. Specifically, he used the then newly developed gene targeting approach to define cis-acting control elements driving non-coding 'sterile' transcripts in immunoglobulin class switch recombination. In 1993, Steffen moved for post-doctoral training to Israel and joined the laboratory of Yinon Ben-Neriah at the Lautenberg Center (Hebrew University, Jerusalem) with a focus on transcription factors and kinases in T cell signaling. In 1997, Steffen went to New York for a post-doc in the laboratory of Dan Littman at the Skirball Institute for Molecular Pathogenesis, NYU Medical Center. His studies there targeted the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 and its unusual membrane-tethered ligand CX3CL1/ fractalkine. Specifically, he generated CX3CR1gfp reporter mice that have become instrumental for defining murine monocyte subsets and studying tissue macrophages, including microglia. Furthermore, he developed, in collaboration with Richard Lang at the Skirball Institute, a novel diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR)-based cell ablation strategy and mouse model that allowed the study of dendritic cells (DC) in their in vivo context (CD11c-DTR mice). In 2002, Steffen returned to Israel and joined the Department of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute, where he received tenure in 2009 and full professorship in 2015.
The Jung lab currently investigates in vivo aspects of mononuclear phagocytes, including the definition of developmental pathways and differential functions of monocytes, DC, and macrophages. Specifically, the team applies intra-vital imaging, conditional cell and gene ablation, and precursor graft-mediated reconstitution, combined with advanced genomic analysis to investigate the biology of these cells in physiological health and disease context.
Recent work of the Jung laboratory focuses on the study of monocyte subpopulations and ontogeny, as well as monocyte-derived gut, lung, and brain macrophages, including microglia and CNS-border-associated cells. Specifically, the team applied a binary transgenic splitCre approach to dissect functions of discrete tissue macrophage subpopulations and their specific contributions to iron homeostasis, vasculature integrity, and brain functions. Current projects focus on visceral pleura macrophages in the lung, microglia and the contributions of macrophages to endometriosis. Moreover, following a serendipitous discovery of a new fungal strain, Kazachstania weizmannii, the team got interested in mechanisms that underlie the competition of commensal fungi and their potential to manage fungal infections such as candidiasis.
