Kellie Ann Jurado, PhD
Presidential Assistant Professor
Member, Institute for Immunology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Member, Penn Center for Research in Reproduction and Women’s Health, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
In-Residence College House Faculty Fellow, Gutmann College House, University of Pennsylvania
Scientific Director of Animal Biosafety Level-3 Core Facility, University of Pennsylvania
Department: Microbiology
Graduate Group Affiliations
Contact information
3450 Hamilton Walk
Stemmler Hall 474A
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Stemmler Hall 474A
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-573-6378
Lab: 215-573-7459
Lab: 215-573-7459
Education:
B.S. (Biology, Microbiology)
New Mexico State University, 2011.
Ph.D. (Virology Program in the Division of Medical Sciences)
Harvard University, 2015.
Permanent linkB.S. (Biology, Microbiology)
New Mexico State University, 2011.
Ph.D. (Virology Program in the Division of Medical Sciences)
Harvard University, 2015.
Description of Research Expertise
We study early life immunity using emerging viruses. The long-term goal of our research is to uncover basic immunobiological mechanisms that underlie and regulate immune responses in utero through early life. We ask questions about immune system function, kinetics, regulation and development during pregnancy and as a neonate in two distinct contexts: under healthy homeostatic conditions and after inflammatory insults (maternal or paternal-restricted and/or local congenital infection).We leverage emerging viruses as biological probes to decode early life immunity. Emerging virus pathogenesis, through disruption, can reveal important host immune networks that lead to the discovery of critical host immune functions. Since early immune exposures influence life-long health, deciphering molecular mechanisms associated with fetal immune system development could hold the key for disease intervention even prior to onset. The ultimate objective of our efforts is to describe fundamental immunobiology in order to discover and identify opportunity to improve offspring health outcomes.
Selected Publications
Merlino MS, Barksdale B, Negatu SG, Philip DT, Clements RL, Miller-Ensminger T, Lopez AL, Mani S, Mainigi MN, Hunter CA, and Jurado KA: Interluekin-27 is antiviral against Zika virus at the maternal-fetal interface. Nature Communications Dec 2025.Negatu SG and Jurado KA: Targeting pathogenic interferon-stimulated gene RSAD2 improves pregnancy outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus models. Cell Reports Medicine 6(3): 102034, Mar 2025.
Negatu SG, Vazquez CV, Bannerman C, Amses KR, Ming GL, and Jurado KA: Bystander neuronal progenitors in forebrain organoids promote protective antiviral responses. Journal of Neuroinflammation 22(65), Mar 2025.
Simoni MK*, Negatu SG*, Park JY, Mani S, Arreguin MC, Amses K, Huh DD, Mainigi MN, and Jurado KA: Type I interferon exposure of an implantation-on-a-chip device alters invasive extravillous trophoblast function. Cell Reports Medicine 6(3): 101991, Mar 2025.
Wong AC, Devason AS, Umana IC, Cox TO, Dohnalová L, Litichevskiy L, Perla J, Lundgren P, Etwebi Z, Izzo LT, Kim J, Tetlak M, Descamps HC, Park SL, Wisser S, McKnight AD, Pardy RD, Kim J, Blank N, Patel S, Thum K, Mason S, Beltra JC, Michieletto MF, Ngiow SF, Miller BM, Liou MJ, Madhu B, Dmitrieva-Posocco O, Huber AS, Hewins P, Petucci C, Chu CP, Baraniecki-Zwil G, Giron LB, Baxter AE, Greenplate AR, Kearns C, Montone K, Litzky LA, Feldman M, Henao-Mejia J, Striepen B, Ramage H, Jurado KA, Wellen KE, O'Doherty U, Abdel-Mohsen M, Landay AL, Keshavarzian A, Henrich TJ, Deeks SG, Peluso MJ, Meyer NJ, Wherry EJ, Abramoff BA, Cherry S, Thaiss CA, Levy M: Serotonin reduction in post-acute sequelae of viral infection. Cell S0092-8674(23): 01034-6, Oct 2023.
Modhiran N, Lauer SM, Amarilla AA, Hewins P, van den Broek SIL, Low YS, Thakur N, Liang B, Nieto GV, Jung J, Paramitha D, Isaacs A, de Sng J, Song D, Jørgensen JT, Cheuquemilla Y, Bürger J, Andersen IV, Himelreichs J, Jara R, MacLoughlin R, Miranda-Chacon Z, Chana-Cuevas P, Kramer V, Spahn CMT, Mielke T, Khromykh AA, Munro T, Jones M, Young PR, Chappell K, Bailey D, Kjaer A, Herth MM, Jurado KA, Schwefel D, Rojas-Fernandez A, Watterson D. : An alpaca-derived nanobody recognizes a unique conserved epitope and retains potent activity against the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants. iScience 26(7): 107085, Jul 2023.
Kennedy EA, Jurado KA.: IL-33 is alarmin the uterus for labor. Immunity 56(3): 467-469, Mar 2023.
Cable J, Denison MR, Kielian M, Jackson WT, Bartenschlager R, Ahola T, Mukhopadhyay S, Fremont DH, Kuhn RJ, Shannon A, Frazier MN, Yuen KY, Coyne CB, Wolthers KC, Ming GL, Guenther CS, Moshiri J, Best SM, Schoggins JW, Jurado KA, Ebel GD, Schäfer A, Ng LFP, Kikkert M, Sette A, Harris E, Wing PAC, Eggenberger J, Krishnamurthy SR, Mah MG, Meganck RM, Chung D, Maurer-Stroh S, Andino R, Korber B, Perlman S, Shi PY, Bárcena M, Aicher SM, Vu MN, Kenney DJ, Lindenbach BD, Nishida Y, Rénia L, Williams EP. : Positive-strand RNA viruses-a Keystone Symposia report. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1521(1): 46-66, Mar 2023.
Tang AT, Buchholz DW, Sziegety KM, Imbhiaka B, Gao S, Frankfurter M, Wang M, Yang J, Hewins P, Mericko-Ishizuka P, Adrian Leu N, Sterling S, Mondreal IA, Sahler J, August A, Zhu X, Jurado KA, Xu M, Morrisey EE, Millar SE, Aguilar HC, Kahn ML: Cell-autonomous requirement for ACE2 across organs in lethal mouse SARS-CoV-2 infection. PLoS Biology Page: 21(2):e3001989, Feb 2023.
Negatu SG, Arreguin MC, Jurado KA, Vazquez C: Being the Alice of academia: lessons from the Red Queen hypothesis. Pathog Dis 80(1), Nov 2022.