Dr. Shannon Dunn PhD

Department of Immunology, the University of Toronto
Toronto, ON | Canada

Dr. Dunn is an Associate Professor of the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. She also is the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Sex and Gender chair in immunity.  She is a neuroimmunologist who leads a research program that focuses on how risk factors for multiple sclerosis (MS) impact the immune system to modulate the development and progression of central nervous system autoimmunity. She employs both animal models of MS and studies of human blood cells to investigate how these risk factors modulate the immune system. In her past work, she made important contributions to the understanding the role of female sex in the regulation of Th1 cytokine responses and the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors in regulation of immune responses. Her lab is currently investigating the role of sex, obesity, cigarette smoking, and head injury on autoimmunity on MS and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.