Pathobiology Faculty

Located on both the Philadelphia and New Bolton Center campuses, Penn Vet's Pathobiology faculty has not only built an outstanding reputation for fundamental research, but provides crucial clinical services for the School and the State. Furthermore, by offering the very best training for veterinary students, residents, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, the faculty is helping to mold the future leaders in veterinary medicine and in basic research.

Our faculty's research efforts in cancer particularly focus on understanding disease as it occurs in animals, and is aimed at designing new strategies to control cancer in both animals and humans.

JORGE I. ALVAREZ, BSc, PhD

Associate Professor of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

Immunology Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania

Neurosciences Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania

Research Areas: Blood Brain Barrier, Blood Meningeal Barrier, Meninges, Neuroinflammation, Neuroimmunology, Multiple Sclerosis, Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, Natural model of disease, Astrocytes, Neuropsychiatric disorders

PubMed Link

Contact Information:

380 South University Avenue
H412

alvaj@vet.upenn.edu

Research
Clinical
Publications
Education
Training

The Alvarez lab aims to define how CNS-intrinsic signals modulate immune cell function within different neurovascular niches. Upon infection or injury, the concerted actions of both systems create a balance between immune attack and tissue repair to promote healing. Nonetheless, during disease these protective mechanisms can be inadequate or aberrant, leading to persistent inflammation and long-term sequelae. As the first line of defense against chemicals and blood-borne molecules, the CNS barriers shield the delicate CNS microenvironment from the constant fluctuations of the periphery. They are composed of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the blood-meningeal barrier (BMB). However, their roles during neuroinflammation remain poorly characterized. Thus, my research program has been built to identify the mechanisms regulating the immune and neurovascular interactions initiating at the level of the CNS barriers and progressing to the perivascular space into the brain parenchyma. Currently, we use a combination of ex-vivo, in vitro, in vivo, and post-mortem approaches to determine the neurovascular mechanisms supporting the pathogenesis of neuroinflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Crockett, A. M., Kebir, H., Anderson, S. A., Jyonouchi, S., Romberg, N., Alvarez, J. I. 22q11.2 Deletion-Associated Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability Potentiates Systemic Capillary Leak Syndrome Neurologic Features 44: 87, 2024.

Crockett, A. M., Kebir, H., Benallegue, N., Adelman, P., Gur, R. E., Sullivan, K., Anderson, S. A., Alvarez, J. I. Immune status of the murine 22q11.2 deletion syndrome model 53: e2249840, 2023.

Linnerbauer, M., Beyer, T., Nirschl, L., Farrenkopf, D., Lößlein, L., Vandrey, O., Peter, A., Tsaktanis, T., Kebir, H., Laplaud, D., Oellinger, R., Engleitner, T., Alvarez, J. I., Rad, R., Korn, T., Hemmer, B., Quintana, F. J., Rothhammer, V. PD-L1 positive astrocytes attenuate inflammatory functions of PD-1 positive microglia in models of autoimmune neuroinflammation 14: 5555, 2023.

Li, C., Niu, C., Bi, H., Zhao, J., Ivan Alvarez, J., Yuan, F., Gai, X., Wei, L., Du, Y., Qiao, Y., Kebir, H., Xiao, Y., Yang, H. Tibetan mineral-herbal medicine Zuotai alleviates the depressive-like behaviors in chronic restraint-stressed mice while regulating stress hormone, inflammation and monoamine 14: 1098378, 2023.

Benallegue, N., Kebir, H., Alvarez, J. I. Neuroinflammation: Extinguishing a blaze of T cells 311: 151-176, 2022.

Koronyo-Hamaoui, M., Gaire, B. P., Frautschy, S. A., Alvarez, J. I. Editorial: Role of Inflammation in Neurodegenerative Diseases 13: 958487, 2022.

Fournier, A. P., Zandee, S., Charabati, M., Peelen, E., Tastet, O., Alvarez, J. I., Kebir, H., Bourbonnière, L., Larouche, S., Lahav, B., Klement, W., Tea, F., Bouthillier, A., Moumdjian, R., Cayrol, R., Duquette, P., Girard, M., Larochelle, C., Arbour, N., Prat, A. CLMP Promotes Leukocyte Migration Across Brain Barriers in Multiple Sclerosis 9: , 2022.

Benallegue, N., Kebir, H., Kapoor, R., Crockett, A., Li, C., Cheslow, L., Abdel-Hakeem, M. S., Gesualdi, J., Miller, M. C., Wherry, E. J., Church, M. E., Blanco, M. A., Alvarez, J. I. The hedgehog pathway suppresses neuropathogenesis in CD4 T cell-driven inflammation 144: 1670-1683, 2021.

Crockett, A. M., Ryan, S. K., Vásquez, A. H., Canning, C., Kanyuch, N., Kebir, H., Ceja, G., Gesualdi, J., Zackai, E., McDonald-McGinn, D., Viaene, A., Kapoor, R., Benallegue, N., Gur, R., Anderson, S. A., Alvarez, J. I. Disruption of the blood-brain barrier in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome 144: 1351-1360, 2021.

Church, M. E., Ceja, G., McGeehan, M., Miller, M. C., Farias, P., Sánchez, M. D., Swain, G. P., Assenmacher, C. A., Stopa, E. G., Vite, C. H., Bar-Or, A., Alvarez, J. I. Meningeal B Cell Clusters Correlate with Submeningeal Pathology in a Natural Model of Multiple Sclerosis 207: 44-54, 2021.

BSc (Microbiology) Universidad de los Andes, 1997

PhD (Microbiology and Immunology) UTHSCSA, 2007

UTSA (2007 to 2008)
Neuroimmunology

CRCHUM (2008 to 2014)
Neuroimmunology