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    Canada Research Chair

  • Portrait of Janilyn Arsenio.
  • Assistant professor

    Max Rady College of Medicine
    Internal Medicine
    799-715 McDermot Avenue
    Winnipeg, MB R3E 3P4

    janilyn.arsenio@umanitoba.ca

Cross appointments

Holds cross-appointments with:

Immunology, Max Rady College of Medicine

Research summary

Infectious diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions such as autoimmune diseases, cancer, and transplant rejections, are major causes of illness and death worldwide.

T cells in the immune system help to orchestrate the body’s defense machinery against infection and help to prevent dysregulated immune responses that can lead to chronic inflammatory diseases.

Our lab uses single-cell genomics, molecular biology, virology, immunology, and systems-based approaches to investigate how T cells become different functional regulators during adaptive immunity.We are interested in the molecular mechanisms of T cell differentiation in the immune response to viral infections, as well as in chronic inflammation (e.g., autoimmunity, cancer), and vaccination.

  • Research affiliations

    • Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology (MCPSB)
  • Research themes

    • Infection and immunity
    • Chronic inflammation and adaptive immunity
    • Molecular regulation of T cell differentiation
  • Research interests

    • T cell differentiation
    • Single-cell genomics
    • Chronic inflammation
    • Adaptive immunity
  • Keywords

    • CD8 T cells
    • T cell fate
    • Single cell transcriptomics
    • Molecular biology
    • Adaptive immunity

Biography

Dr. Janilyn Arsenio Arsenio is an assistant professor in the departments of internal medicine and immunology in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada.

Dr. Arsenio holds a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Systems Biology of Chronic Inflammation and is a principal investigator at the Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology.

From the University of Manitoba, Dr. Arsenio received her bachelor of science major with distinction in microbiology, and doctor of philosophy in medical microbiology and infectious diseases in the lab of Dr. Jingxin Cao at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

From 2012-2016, Dr. Arsenio completed her postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of California San Diego, USA, under the mentorship of Dr. John Chang.

Her postdoctoral research investigated how CD8 T cells differentiate into diverse cellular fates early in the adaptive immune response to bacterial and viral infections, using single-cell gene expression analysis.

Dr. Arsenio returned to the University of Manitoba as assistant professor in late 2017 and was awarded a Tier 2 CRC in 2018.

Her research program studies the molecular mechanisms of immune T cell differentiation during infection and chronic inflammation using single-cell genomics approaches and is supported by local and national funding.

Alongside her research activities, Dr. Arsenio is a devoted mom and wife, and is involved in initiatives which advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia and research.

Dr. Arsenio is the vice-chair of Women in Science: Development, Outreach, and Mentoring (WISDOM) in Manitoba, a member of national societies: the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology, Association for Women in Science (USA), and UM senior mentor of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Instituted of Gender and Health (IGH) Trainee Network.

Recently, Dr. Arsenio was inducted into the Global Young Academy.

    Education

    Postdoctorate (2016)

    Doctor of Philosophy, University of Manitoba (2011)

    Bachelor of Science Major with Distinction (2004)

    Awards

    2022:

    • Ken Hughes Young Investigator Award in Medical Research

    2020:

    • Liam J. Murphy Young Investigator Award
    • Pinays MB Trailblazer Award

    2018:

    • CBC Manitoba Future 40 Award
    • Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Systems Biology of Chronic Inflammation

    2016:

    • American Association of Immunologists Young Investigator Award

    2013:

    • University of California San Diego Postdoctoral Research Award
    • American Association of Immunologists Trainee Award

    Contact us

    Internal Medicine
    Room GC430, Health Sciences Centre
    820 Sherbrook Street
    University of Manitoba
    Winnipeg, MB R3A 1R9 Canada

    204-787-7772
    204-787-4826