Jonathan Kipnis

Jonathan Kipnis is the Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience, and Director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He studies the interaction of the immune system with the nervous system and has been the senior author of two landmark papers in this field.^[1] His lab currently is studying several diverse topics within this subject, including CNS injury, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers, cognitive and mental disorders, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and Rett syndrome.

Kipnis joined the faculty at UVA in 2007 and was made chair of the Department of Neuroscience in 2016. He earned his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and upon graduation, he received the Prize of Excellence from the Weizmann Institute of Science and a distinguished prize for scientific achievements awarded by the Israeli Parliament, The Knesset.^[2]

Meningeal lymphatic vessels

Kipnis is credited with the 2014 discovery of meningeal lymphatic vessels, a recently discovered network of conventional lymphatic vessels located parallel to the dural sinuses and meningeal arteries of the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). As a part of the lymphatic system, the meningeal lymphatics are responsible for draining immune cells, small molecules, and excess fluid from the CNS and into the deep cervical lymph nodes.

While it was initially believed that both the brain and meninges were devoid of lymphatic vasculature, the landmark Nature paper by Jonathan Kipnis and his postdoctoral fellow Antoine Louveau was published in 2015. By 2016, this paper was cited nearly 200 times.^[3]

His discovery of meningeal lymphatic vessels has attracted attention from many sources, and was touted as a scientific breakthrough in lists such as Scientific American's "Top 10 Science Stories of 2015", Science Magazine's "Breakthrough of the Year", Huffington Post's "Eight Fascinating Things We Learned About the Mind in 2015" and the National Institutes of Health's director Francis Collins year end review.^[4][5]

Other high-profile research has included the 2015 discovery that the immune system directly affects social behavior and that IFN-gamma is necessary for social development.^[6][7]

His work has been funded by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative,^[8] National Institutes of Health, the Hartwell Foundation, and the Cure Alzheimer's Fund.^[9]

High impact papers

• Louveau A, Smirnov I, Keyes TJ, Eccles JD, Rouhani SJ, Peske JD, Derecki NC, Castle D, Mandell JW, Lee KS, Harris TH, Kipnis J. (2015) Structural and functional features of central nervous system lymphatic vessels. Nature. 2015 Jul 16;523(7560):337-41. doi: 10.1038/nature14432.
• Filiano AJ, Xu Y, Tustison NJ, Marsh RL, Baker W, Smirnov I, Overall CC, Gadani SP, Turner SD, Weng Z, Peerzade SN, Chen H, Lee KS, Scott MM, Beenhakker MP, Litvak V, Kipnis J. (2016) Unexpected role of interferon-γ in regulating neuronal connectivity and social behaviour. Nature Jul 13;535(7612):425-429. doi: 10.1038/nature18626.

References