Morgan Coburn
Biography
Morgan Coburn, Ph.D., is Assistant Director of Outreach and Education at the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine. Coburn received a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from the University of California, Irvine, where her doctoral research focused on developing and validating a chimeric mouse model to study human iPSC-derived microglia in vivo in health and disease, including Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and brain-metastasized breast cancer.
In her current role, Coburn provides strategic and operational leadership for a portfolio of federally and privately funded outreach, education, and training programs that advance public engagement in brain science and broaden participation in neuroscience. She manages the CNLM Ambassadors program, a center-wide volunteer initiative of more than 100 trainees representing three schools and over 30 laboratories, coordinating year-round outreach that reaches thousands of community members annually. She oversees implementation of UCI Brain Camp, the NIH-SEPA funded Brain Explorer Academy, and the NSF-REU Irvine Summer Institute in Neuroscience, among other programs. Coburn also leads program evaluation efforts, designing data collection and analysis to assess trainee skill development, community reach, and program effectiveness.
Coburn completed postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Ukpong Eyo at the University of Virginia, where she studied purinergic signaling in human microglia in vivo and was supported by the NIH-T32 Cardiovascular Research Center Training Grant. During her doctoral training, she served as a Pedagogical Fellow with the UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, receiving over 100 hours of advanced pedagogical training and was recognized with the Most Promising Future Faculty Award. She has co-authored multiple publications, including a co-first author paper in Neuron on the development of a chimeric model to study human microglia.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, 2021
- M.Sc. in Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, 2020
- B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior, Mount Holyoke College, 2016
Distinctions
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship – Honorable Mention, 2019
- Faculty Opinions Associate Faculty Member, 2022-2023
- Rose Hills Foundation Science & Engineering Fellowship, 2020-2021
- Norman M. Weinberger Memorial Award, UCI CNLM, 2020
- James L. McGaugh Award for Excellence in Graduate Research in Neurobiology and Behavior, UCI, 2020
- Francisco J. Ayala Graduate Fellowship, University of California, Irvine, 2017
- Brain Camp Pedagogical Award for Excellence in Teaching, UCI CNLM, 2019, 2021
- DTEI Summer Fellows Program, UCI DTEI, 2021
- Most Promising Future Faculty Award, UCI DTEI, 2021
- Pedagogical Fellow, UCI DTEI, 2021
Areas of Expertise
- Neuroscience Education and Outreach
- Human Microglia Transplantation Models
- Alzheimer's Disease Pathology Responses
- Stem Cell Derived Microglia
- Purinergic Signaling Mechanisms
- Neuroinflammation in Metabolic Disorders
- Brain Metastasis Tumor Immunity
Recent Publications
- Coburn, M. A., Eskandari-Sedighi, G., Hasselmann, J., England, W., Shabestari, S. K., Mansour, K., Blurton-Jones, M., “Human microglia differentially respond to β-amyloid, tau, and combined Alzheimer's disease pathologies in vivo” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S and Dementia, vol. 21, no. 11, pp. e70930, 2025.
- Lopez-Ortiz, A. O., Doceti, M., Thomas, J., Duffy, A., Coburn, M., K. Okojie, A., Eyo, U. B., “Transcriptional Regulation of Microglial Metabolic and Activation States by P2RY12” (opens in new tab), Glia, vol. 73, no. 12, pp. 2464-2482, 2025.
- Fettig, N. M., Popple, S. J., Portas, M. B., Sharon, A. J., Sawhney, A., Worthington, T., Hardman B. K., Coburn MA, Osborne, L. C., “Helminth infection induces neuroimmune remodeling and clinical remission in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis”, bioRxiv, pp. 2025-09, 2025.
- Coburn, M.A., Conway, E.P., Aquino Argueta, S., Bautista, M.R., Flores, A., Hokenson, R., Javonillo, D., Kaushik, N., Loritsch, J., Mendoza, J.M., Morehouse, A., Ning, W., Taniguchi, L., Tu, A.S., Tsourmas, K.I., Sandoval, M., Zheng, M., Yassa, M.O., “From Experiments to Engagement: Building Neuroscience Outreach Through the CNLM Ambassador Program”, 2025. Presented at The Society for Neuroscience Conference, San Diego, CA, November 16th, 2025.
- Coburn, M.A., Aquino Argueta, S., Flores, A., Hokenson, R., Javonillo, D., Mendoza, J.M., Moore, J., Morehouse, A., Ning, W., Taniguchi, L., Tu, A.S., Tsourmas, K.I., Sandoval, M., Yassa, M.O., “The Ambassador Program: a Framework for Engaging Community in Neuroscience and Trainees in Outreach”, 2024. Presented at The Society for Neuroscience Conference, Chicago, IL, October 6th, 2024.
- William Mills III, Coburn, M.A., Eyo, UB, “The Emergence of the Calvarial Hematopoietic Niche in Health and Disease” (opens in new tab), Immunological Reviews, vol. 311, pp. 26-38, 2022.
- Coburn, M.A., Sanchez, J., Karayianis, K., Yassa, M.O., “Creating a Virtual Brain Camp”, 2022. Presented at Brain Awareness Week Social at the Society for Neuroscience Conference, San Diego, CA, November 12th, 2022.
- Claes, C., Danhash, E., Hasselmann, J., Chadarevian, J.P., Shabestari, S.K., Lim, T.E., Tu, C., Silva, J., Coburn, M.A., Jairaman, A., Cahalan, M., “Examining the effects of the microglial PLCG2 P522R mutation by transplantation of human stem cell-derived microglia in chimeric AD mice: Molecular and cell biology/stem cells, iPS cells”, Alzheimer's & Dementia, vol. 16, pp. e041539, 2020.
- Hovakimyan, A., Antonyan, T., Svystun, O., Kiani Shabestari, S., Chailyan, G., Coburn, M.A., Petrushina, I., Cribbs, D.H., Blurton-Jones, M., Agadjanyan, M.G., Ghochikyan, A., Davtyan, H., “A MultiTEP platform-based epitope vaccine targeting the phosphatase activating domain (PAD) of tau: therapeutic efficacy in PS19 mice” (opens in new tab), Scientific reports, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-12, 2019.
Most Cited Publications
- McQuade, A., Coburn, M., Tu, C.H., Hasselmann, J., Davtyan, H., Blurton-Jones, M., “Development and validation of a simplified method to generate human microglia from pluripotent stem cells” (opens in new tab), Molecular Neurodegeneration, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 67, 2018.
- Coburn, M., Hasselmann, J., England, W., Figueroa, D.V., Kiani Shabestari, S., Tu, C.H., McQuade, A., Kolahdouzan, M., Echeverria, C., Claes, C., Nakayama, T., Azecedo, R., Coufal, N., Han, C., Cummings, B.J., Davtyan, H., Glass, C., Healy, L., Gandhi, S., Spitale, R., et al., “Development of a chimeric model to study and manipulate human microglia in vivo” (opens in new tab), Neuron, vol. 103, pp. 1-18, 2019.
- McQuade, A., Kang, Y., Hasselmann, J., Jairaman, A., Sotelo, A., Coburn, M., Kiani Shabestari, S., Chadarevian, J.P., Fote, G., Tu, C.H., Danhash, E., Silva, J., Martinez, E., Cotman, C., Prieto, A., Thompson, L., Steffan, J., Smith, I., Davtyan, H., Cahalan, M., et al., “Gene expression and functional deficits underlie TREM2-knockout microglia responses in human models of Alzheimer's disease” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-17, 2020.
- Kiani Shabestari, S., Morabito, S., Danhash, E.P., McQuade, A., Miyoshi, E.E., Chadarevian, J.P., Claes, C., Coburn, M.A., Hasselmann, J., Silva, J., Martini, A.C., Sanchez, J.R., Head, E., Hume, D.A., Pridans, C., Davtyan, H., Swarup, V., Blurton-Jones, M., “Absence of microglia leads to diverse comorbidities and promotes lethality in Alzheimer's disease mice” (opens in new tab), Cell Reports, vol. 39, no. 11, pp. 110961, 2022.
- Church, J.S., Tijerina, P.B., Emerson, F.J., Coburn, M.A., Blum, J.L., Zelikoff, J.T., Schwartzer, J.J., “Perinatal exposure to concentrated ambient particulates results in autism-like behavioral deficits in adult mice” (opens in new tab), Neurotoxicology, vol. 65, pp. 231-240, 2018.
- Katrina T Evans, Kerrigan Blake, Aaron Longworth, Morgan A Coburn, Quy H Nguyen, Dennis Ma, Grace A Hernandez, Armani K Oganyan, Davit Orujyan, Robert A Edwards, Clare Pridans, Matthew Blurton-Jones, Devon Lawson, “Microglia promote anti-tumour immunity and suppress breast cancer brain metastasis” (opens in new tab), Nature cell biology, vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 1848-1859, 2023.
- Schwartzer, J.J., Careaga, M., Coburn, M.A., Rose, D.R., Hughes, H.K., Ashwood, P., “Behavioral impact of maternal allergic-asthma in two genetically distinct mouse strains” (opens in new tab), Brain Behavior and Immunity, vol. 63, pp. 99-107, 2017.
- Okojie, A. K., Uweru, J. O., Coburn, M. A., Li, S., Cao-Dao, V. D., Eyo, U. B., “Distinguishing the effects of systemic CSF1R inhibition by PLX3397 on microglia and peripheral immune cells” (opens in new tab), Journal of Neuroinflammation, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 242, 2023.
- Claes, C., England, W.E., Danhash, E.P., Kiani Shabestari, S., Jairaman, A., Chadarevian, J.P., Hasselmann, J., Tsai, A.P., Coburn, M.A., Sanchez, J., Lim, T.E., Hidalgo, J.L.S., Tu, C., Cahalan, M.D., Lamb, B.T., Landreth, G.E., Spitale, R.C., Blurton-Jones, M., Davtyan, H., “The P522R protective variant of PLCG2 promotes the expression of antigen presentation genes by human microglia in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S and Dementia, vol. 18, no. 10, pp. 1765-1778, 2022.
- Davtyan H., Hovakimyan A., Kiani Shabestari S., Antonyan T., Coburn M.A., Zagorski K., Chailyan G., Petrushina I., Svystun O., Danhash E., Petrovsky N., Cribbs D.H., Agadjanyan M.G., Blurton-Jones M., Ghochikyan A., “Testing a MultiTEP-based combination vaccine to reduce Aβ and tau pathology in Tau22/5xFAD bigenic mice” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S Research and Therapy, vol. 11, 2019.
Contact Information
Email: macoburn@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-3919
Address: 320 Qureshey Research Lab
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Last updated on 4/30/2026.