David Levy, PhD

David is a Professor of Pathology and Professor of Microbiology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His lab has focused for many years on studying mammalian innate immunity and cytokine signaling. He contributed to many fundamental discoveries, including 1) discovery and characterization of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway for interferon (IFN) and other innate immune cytokines; 2) characterization of the role of IRF transcription factors in positive and negative regulation of IFN signaling; 3) discovery of a metabolic function of mitochondrially-localized STAT proteins, and 4) characterization of the interplay between innate immunity and the gut microbiome in health and autoinflammatory diseases. His research has led to the creation and testing of numerous animal models that have been useful for probing the function and significance of innate immunity in infectious diseases, inflammation, and cancer. He has always been interested in using basic scientific discoveries to further human health. To that end, he has documented connections between innate immune responses and autoinflammatory diseases, roles for STAT proteins in human cancer, and the function of the IFN pathway in resistance to viral diseases, and has consulted on and participated in various commercial entities to aid turning basic discoveries into products. He helped develop intellectual property that is the basis for eltrombopag, a leading oncology drug from Novartis. He has an extensive history of pursuing collaborative research endeavors, including productive collaborations with Drs. Bogunovic and Garcia-Sastre, key participants in Lab11 Therapeutics and this ongoing commercialization project.