Lewis Lanier, PhD Chair and J. Michael Bishop MD Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology Biography Lewis Lanier, PhD, is chair and J. Michael Bishop MD Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at UC San Francisco. Lanier has studied the immune system’s natural killer (NK) cells, a type of white blood cell that provides protection against microbial pathogens and tumors, for more than three decades. NK cells express a diverse array of inhibitory and activating receptors on their surface that bind to ligands expressed on the surface of potential target cells. His lab has identified and characterized many of these receptors, their ligands and associated signaling pathways, and has defined their role in innate and adaptive immune responses to pathogens and cancer. When NK cells encounter healthy cells, signals transmitted by inhibitory receptors dominate, preventing autoimmune responses. But the absence of ligands for inhibitory receptors or the upregulation of ligands for activating receptors in infected or malignant cells prompts NK cells to kill these abnormal cells and to secrete cytokines that induce a subsequent response by T-cells and B cells. Lanier hopes to apply this knowledge to the development of powerful NK cell-based cancer immunotherapies. Education & Training 1975: Virginia Tech, BS 1978: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD Awards & Honors 2017: American Association of Immunology Excellence in Mentoring Award 2013: J. Michael Bishop MD Distinguished Professor, UCSF; Distinguished UNC Alumnus Award, UNC – Chapel Hill 2011: Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Faculty Research Lecture – Basic Science Award, UCSF; Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology 2010: Member, National Academy of Sciences 2007: President, American Association of Immunologists 2005: Rose Payne Award, American Society for Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics 2003: Research Professor, American Cancer Society 2002: William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology, Cancer Research Institute 2001: Distinguished Service Award, American Association of Immunologists 1990: Research Fellow, Becton Dickinson 1981: Postdoctoral Fellow, Damon Runyon – Walter Winchell Cancer Fund