Dr. John Chang studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying T lymphocyte fate specification.  Dr. Chang is the recipient of several awards, including the HHMI Physician-Scientist Early Career Award and the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, and is currently funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. In 2016, Dr. Chang was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and received the AGA-GRG Young Investigator Award in Basic Science.

Read full bio >

A central problem faced by multi-cellular organisms is the need for rare progenitor cells to continually produce terminally differentiated cells while also preserving a self-renewing lineage.  In the mammalian immune system, T lymphocytes face a similar need for simultaneous differentiation and regeneration.  The goal of our research is to understand the molecular mechanisms enabling activated T lymphocytes to give rise to differentially fated progeny.

More about our lab's research >

Lab Location
University of California, San Diego
Biomedical Research Facility 2 (BRF2)
Room 5220L

Mailing Address
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive #0063
La Jolla, CA 92093-0063

Phone: 858-822-7568
Fax: 858-822-7652

Congratulations to Christella Widjaja for winning a Best Oral Presentation Award at the La Jolla Immunology Conference 2016! 

Congratulations to Janilyn Arsenio for winning a Best Poster Award at the La Jolla Immunology Conference 2016! 

Just published in Journal of Clinical Investigation: 

"Proteasome activity regulates CD8+ T lymphocyte metabolism and fate specification." Congratulations to Christella Widjaja! See press release and highlighted in Nature Reviews Immunology.