The laboratory of Jan Erikson is interested in the signals that guide the trajectory of immune cells along distinct developmental paths that result in either short-term or long-lasting immune response formation. Her research is critically important to a better understanding of autoimmune and infectious disease, and vaccine development. To gain a clearer picture of autoimmune disorders, as well as the immune response to pathogens and vaccines, she is investigating the interplay among different types of immune cells that result in immune system activation or suppression.

Erikson received both her bachelor’s degree and doctorate in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1986, she moved to California to do her initial postdoctoral work at Stanford University Medical School, and later returned to Pennsylvania for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Cancer Research, Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Erikson joined The Wistar Institute as an assistant professor in 1991. A year later, she was named Wistar Institute Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Research at the Erikson laboratory is focused on the examination of immune cell activation and regulation. She has been particularly interested in the characterization of cellular and molecular interactions that influence self-reacting lymphocytes or B cells that attack the host. Her laboratory continues to investigate self-reacting B cells, and the role that T cells, another type of lymphocyte, play in modifying B cell stimulation and differentiation.

Most recently, Erikson’s laboratory has begun research on the immune response to influenza virus with the ultimate aim of developing a vaccine. Among her current studies is an investigation into how the B cell response to influenza virus is induced and regulated with the goal of identifying critical interactions responsible for effective immunity.

1 - Wolf AI, Mozdzanowska K, Williams KL, Singer D, Hoffmann R, Caton AJ, Otvos L, Erikson J. 2011. Vaccination with M2e-based multiple antigenic peptides: Characterization of the B cell response and protection efficacy in inbred and outbred mice. PLoS ONE. 6: e28445. PMID: 22180783. PMCID: PMC3236751

2 - Abt MC, Osborne LC, Monticelli LA, Doering TA, Alenghat T, Sonnenberg GF, Paley MA, Antenus M, Williams KL, Erikson J, Wherry EJ, Artis D. 2012. Commensal bacteria calibrate the activation threshold of innate antiviral immunity. Immunity, in press.

3 - Protective antiviral antibody responses in a mouse model of influenza virus infection require TACI. Wolf AI, Mozdzanowska K, J Quinn W 3rd, Metzgar M, Williams KL, Caton AJ, Meffre E, Bram RJ, Erickson LD, Allman D, Cancro MP, Erikson J. J Clin Invest. 2011 Oct 3;121(10):3954-64. PMID: 21881204

4 - CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cell formation requires more specific recognition of a self-peptide than thymocyte deletion. Cozzo Picca C, Simons DM, Oh S, Aitken M, Perng OA, Mergenthaler C, Kropf E, Erikson J, Caton AJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 6;108(36):14890-5. PMID: 21873239

5 - Cheng G, Wang LC, Fridlender ZG, Cheng GS, Chen B, Mangalmurti NS, Saloura V, Yu Z, Kapoor V, Mozdzanowska K, Moon E, Sun J, Kreinder JL, Cohen NA, Caton AJ, Erikson J, Albelda SM., Pharmacologic activation of the Innate Immune System to prevent respiratory viral infections., American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 2010 Dec 10. [Epub ahead of print], 21148741

6 - Zhou D, Wu TL, Lasaro MO, Latimer BP, Parzych EM, Bian A, Li Y, Li H, Erikson J, Xiang Z, Ertl HC., A universal Influenza A vaccine based on Adenovirus expressing Matrix-2 Ectodomain and Nucleoprotein Protects mice from letal challenge., Molecular Therapy. 2010 Dec;18(12):2182-9. [Epub 2010 Sep 28], 20877342

7 - Simons DM, Picca CC, Oh S, Perng OA, Aitken M, Erikson J, Caton AJ., How specificity for self-peptides shapes the development and function of regulatory T cells., Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2010 Dec;88(6):1099-107. [Epub 2010 May 21], 20495071

8 - Decman V, Laidlaw BJ, Dimenna LJ, Abdulla S, Mozdzanowska K, Erikson J, Ertl HC, Wherry EJ., Cell-intrinsic defects in the proliferative response of antiviral memory CD8 T cells in aged mice upon secondary infection., Journal of Immunology. 2010 May 1;184(9):5151-9. [Epub 2010 Apr 5] , 20368274

9 - Sonnenberg GF, Mangan PR, Bezman NA, Sekiguchi DR, Luning Prak ET, Erikson J, Maltzman JS, Jordan MS, Koretzky GA., Mislocalization of SLP-76 leads to aberrant inflammatory cytokine and autoantibody production., Blood. 2010 Mar 18;115(11):2186-95. [Epub 2009 Dec 22] , 20029045

10 - Hondowicz BD, Batheja AO, Metzgar MH, Caton AJ, Erikson J., ICOS expression by effector T cells influences the ability of regulatory T cells to inhibit anti-chromatin B cell responses in recipient mice., Journal of Autoimmunity. 2010 Jun;34(4):460-8. [Epub 2009 Dec 22] , 20022728

11 - Hondowicz BD, Batheja AO, Metzgar MH, Pagán AJ, Perng OA, Willms S, Caton AJ, Erikson J., Efficient help for autoreactive B-cell activation requires CD4+ T-cell recognition of an agonist peptide at the effector stage., European Journal of Immunology. 2009 Sep;39(9):2377-82., 19662636

12 - Mandik-Nayak L, Ridge N, Fields M. Park AY, Erikson J., Role of B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis., Current Opinion in Immunology. 2008 Dec;20(6):639-45. [Epub 2008 Sep 18], 18775493

13 - Hondowicz BD, Fields ML, Nish SA, Larkin J, Caton AJ, Erikson J., Autantibody production in lpr/lpr gld/gld mice reflects accumulation of CD4(+) effector cells that are resistant to regulatory T cell activity., Journal of Autoimmunity. 2008 Sep;31(2):98-109. [E-pub 2008 June 6], 18539433

14 - Khan SN, Witsch EJ, Goodman NG, Panigrahi AK, Erikson J, Weigert M, Prak ET, Radic M., Editing and escape from editing in anti-DNA B cells., Proceedings of the National Academey of the Sciences, U.S.A. 2008 March 11; 105(10):3861-6. [Epub 2008 Feb 29], 18310318