Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior
Charle Dunlop School of Biological Sciences

Member, Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND)

Member, Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center

Member, Institute for Immunology

Microglia, Alzheimer Disease, Stem Cells, Neurodegeneration, Cell Therapy

Blurton-Jones Lab

2005-2007 Postgraduate Researcher
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-4545
Mentor: Frank LaFerla, Ph.D.

2002-2005 Postgraduate Researcher
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-4545
Mentor: Carl Cotman, Ph.D.

July 2002 Ph.D. in Neurosciences
University of California, San Diego
Thesis Advisor: Mark Tuszynski, M.D.,Ph.D.

The Blurton-Jones lab uses human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), CRISPR engineering, and chimeric mouse models to examine the underlying molecular mechanisms that drive the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Our lab previously developed one of the most widely adopted approaches to differentiate patient-derived iPSCs into microglia. We continue to use this approach to examine the impact of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) risk genes on human microglia function. To further examine and manipulate the interactions between human microglia and AD pathologies in vivo, we have also developed novel chimeric mouse models of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. Ongoing studies in the Blurton-Jones lab are combining iPSCs, CRISPR gene editing and chimeric modeling to examine the impact of AD-associated risk genes on human microglial function and disease progression in vivo and to develop and test novel microglial-based cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

2023 UCI Applied Innovation, Emerging Innovation of the Year
2020-present Member, Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Leadership Group
2006-2007 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Stem Cell Biology (California Institute for Regenerative Medicine)
2002-2004 NIA Neurobiology of Aging Training Grant (PI: CW Cotman)
1997-2001 NIA Neuroplasticity of Aging Training Grant (PI: Rusty Gage )
2001-2002 Merck fellowship/UCSD Neurosciences Graduate Training Program
1997-1998 Markey Fellowship, UC San Diego

Recent Publications:

iPSC-derived human microglia-like cells to study neurological diseases. Abud EM, Ramirez RN, Martinez ES, Healy LM, Nguyen CHH, Newman SA, Yeromin AV, Scarfone VM, Marsh SE, Fimbres C, Caraway CA, Fote GM, Madany AM, Agrawal A, Kayed R Gylys KH, Cahahlan MD, Cummings BJ, Antel JP, Mortazavi A, Carson MJ, Poon WW, Blurton-Jones M. Neuron. 2017 Apr 19;94(2):278-293. PMCID: 5482419.

Development and validation of a simplified method to generate human microglia from pluripotent stem cells. McQuade A, Coburn M, Tu CH, Hasselmann J, Davtyan H, Blurton-Jones, M. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2018 Dec 22;13(1):67. PMCID:6303871.

Development of a Chimeric Model to Study and Manipulate Human Microglia In Vivo. Hasselmann J, Coburn MA, England W, Figueroa Velez DX, Kiani Shabestari S, Tu CH, McQuade A, Kolahdouzan M, Echeverria K, Claes C, Nakayama T, Azevedo R, Coufal NG, Han CZ, Cummings BJ, Davtyan H, Glass CK, Healy LM, Gandhi SP, Spitale RC, Blurton-Jones M. Neuron. 2019 Sep 25;103(6):1016-1033. PMCID: 7138101.

Human iPSC-derived microglia: A growing toolset to study the brain's innate immune cells. Hasselmann J, Blurton-Jones M. Glia. 2020 Apr;68(4):721-739. doi: 10.1002/glia.23781. PMID: 31926038.

Gene expression and functional deficits underlie TREM2-knockout microglia responses in human models of Alzheimer’s disease. McQuade A, Kang YJ, Hasselmann J, Jairaman A, Sotelo A, Coburn M, Shabestari SK, Chadarevian JP, Fote G, Tu CH, Danhash E, Silva J, Martinez E, Cotman C, Prieto A, Thompson LM, Steffan JS, Smith I, Davtyan H, Cahalan M, Cho H, Blurton-Jones M. Nature Communications. 2020 Oct 23;11(1):5370. PMID: 33097708.

Plaque-associated human microglia accumulate lipid droplets in a chimeric model of Alzheimer's disease. Claes C, Danhash EP, Hasselmann J, Chadarevian JP, Shabestari SK, England WE, En Li T, Silva Hidalgo JL, Spitale RC, Davtyan H, Blurton-Jones M. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2021 Jul 23;16(1):50. PMID: 34301296.

TREM2 regulates purinergic receptor-mediated calcium signaling and motility in human iPSC-derived microglia. Jairaman A, McQuade A, Granzotto A, Kang YJ, Chadarevian JP, Gandhi S, Parker I, Smith I, Cho H, Sensi SL, Othy S, Blurton-Jones M*, Cahalan MD*. Elife. 2022 Feb 22;11:e73021. PMID: 35191835. *contributed equally.

Absence of microglia promotes diverse pathologies and early lethality in Alzheimer's disease mice. Kiani Shabestari S, Morabito S, Danhash EP, McQuade A, Sanchez JR, Miyoshi E, Chadarevian JP, Claes C, Coburn MA, Hasselmann J, Hidalgo J, Tran KN, Martini AC, Chang Rothermich W, Pascual J, Head E, Hume DA, Pridans C, Davtyan H, Swarup V, Blurton-Jones M. Cell Reports. 2022 Jun 14;39(11):110961.PMID: 35705056

The P522R protective variant of PLCG2 promotes the expression of antigen presentation genes by human microglia in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model. Claes C, England WE, Danhash EP, Kiani Shabestari S, Jairaman A, Chadarevian JP, Hasselmann J, Tsai AP, Coburn MA, Sanchez J, Lim TE, Hidalgo JLS, Tu C, Cahalan MD, Lamb BT, Landreth GE, Spitale RC, Blurton-Jones M, Davtyan H. Alzheimer’s Dement. 2022 Feb 9. PMID: 35142046. *contributed equally.

Microglia states and nomenclature: A field at its crossroads. Paolicelli RC, Sierra A, Stevens B, Tremblay ME, Aguzzi A, Ajami B, Amit I, Audinat E, Bechmann I, Bennett M, Bennett F, Bessis A, Biber K, Bilbo S, Blurton-Jones M, Boddeke E, Brites D, Brône B, Brown GC, Butovsky O, Carson MJ, Castellano B, Colonna M, Cowley SA, Cunningham C, Davalos D, De Jager PL, de Strooper B, Denes A, Eggen BJL, Eyo U, Galea E, Garel S, Ginhoux F, Glass CK, Gokce O, Gomez-Nicola D, González B, Gordon S, Graeber MB, Greenhalgh AD, Gressens P, Greter M, Gutmann DH, Haass C, Heneka MT, Heppner FL, Hong S, Hume DA, Jung S, Kettenmann H, Kipnis J, Koyama R, Lemke G, Lynch M, Majewska A, Malcangio M, Malm T, Mancuso R, Masuda T, Matteoli M, McColl BW, Miron VE, Molofsky AV, Monje M, Mracsko E, Nadjar A, Neher JJ, Neniskyte U, Neumann H, Noda M, Peng B, Peri F, Perry VH, Popovich PG, Pridans C, Priller J, Prinz M, Ragozzino D, Ransohoff RM, Salter MW, Schaefer A, Schafer DP, Schwartz M, Simons M, Smith CJ, Streit WJ, Tay TL, Tsai LH, Verkhratsky A, von Bernhardi R, Wake H, Wittamer V, Wolf SA, Wu LJ, Wyss-Coray T. Neuron. 2022 Nov 2;110(21):3458-3483. PMID: 36327895.

Engineering an inhibitor resistant human CSF1R variant for microglia replacement. Chadarevian JP, Lombroso SI, Peet GC, Hasselmann J, Tu CH, Marzan DE, Capocchi J, Purnel FS, Nemec KM, Lahian A, Escobar A, England W, Chaluvadi S, O’Brien CA, Yaqoob F, Aisenberg WH, Porras-Paniagua M, Bennett ML, Davtyan H, Spitale RC, Blurton-Jones M* Bennett FC*. 2023 Journal of Experimental Medicine. Mar 6;220(3):e20220857. PMID: 36584406. *contributed equally.

CRISPR generation of CSF1R-G795A human microglia for robust microglia replacement in a chimeric mouse model. Chadarevian JP, Davtyan H, Lombroso SI, Bennett FC, Blurton-Jones M. STAR Protocols. 2023 Jul 29;4(3):102490. PMID: 37516973.

Microglial APOE4: more is less and less is more. Eskandari-Sedighi G, Blurton-Jones M. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2023 Dec 19;18(1):99. PMID: 38115077.

Therapeutic potential of human microglial transplantation in a chimeric model of CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy. Jean Paul Chadarevian, Jonathan Hasselmann, Alina Lahian, Joia Capocchi, Adrian Escobar, Tau En Lim, Christina Tu, Lauren Le, Jasmine Nguyen, Sepideh Kiani Shabestari, William Carlen-Jones, Sunil Gandhi, Guojun Bu, David A. Hume, Clare Pridans, Zbigniew K. Wszolek, Robert C. Spitale, Hayk Davtyan, Mathew Blurton-Jones. 2024. Neuron, Aug 21;112(16):2686-2707.e8. PMID: 38897209.

Immune checkpoint TIM-3 regulates microglia and Alzheimer's disease. Kimura K, Subramanian A, Yin Z, Khalilnezhad A, Wu Y, He D, Dixon KO, Chitta UK, Ding X, Adhikari N, Guzchenko I, Zhang X, Tang R, Pertel T, Myers SA, Aastha A, Nomura M, Eskandari-Sedighi G, Singh V, Liu L, Lambden C, Kleemann KL, Gupta N, Barry JL, Durao A, Cheng Y, Silveira S, Zhang H, Suhail A, Delorey T, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Freeman GJ, Selkoe DJ, Weiner HL, Blurton-Jones M, Cruchaga C, Regev A, Suvà ML, Butovsky O, Kuchroo VK. Nature. 2025 May;641(8063):718-731. PMID: 40205047.

Harnessing human iPSC-microglia for CNS-wide delivery of disease-modifying proteins. Chadarevian JP, Davtyan H, Chadarevian AL, Nguyen J, Capocchi JK, Le L, Escobar A, Chadarevian T, Mansour K, Deynega E, Mgerian M, Tu C, Kiani Shabestari S, Carlen-Jones W, Eskandari-Sedighi G, Hasselmann J, Spitale RC, Blurton-Jones M. Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Jun 5;32(6):914-934.e8. PMID: 40233761.

NIH/NINDS RF1-NS139975 9/2024 - 8/2027 Vascular-immune mechanisms of cerebral amyloid angiopathy and Alzheimer’s pathology Role: MPI

Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Neuroimmunology Consortium 11/16/24 - 11/15/26 Examining the role of human microglia in the transition between parenchymal and vascular beta-amyloid pathology Role: MPI

Alzheimer’s Association, Vascular Neuroimmune Consortium 6/1/24 – 5/31/26 Role: MPI Revealing key brain vascular-neuroimmune interactions in Alzheimer's disease.

NIH/NIA R01-AG082255 6/1/24 - 5/31/29 Contribution of AD genetic risk and microglial BIN1 to tauopathy. Role: MPI

NIH/NIA U19-AG06970101 07/01/21 - 06/30/26 Biology and Pathobiology of ApoE in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Role: Co-PI Project 5 (U19 PI: Goate and Holtzman)

NIH/NIA P30-AG066519 10/1/13 – 3/31/25 UC Irvine Alzheimer Disease Research Center. Core F: iPS Cell Core Role: Core Leader (PI: Frank LaFerla)

Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

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https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=5530

Last updated
11/01/2025