Mathew Blurton-Jones
Biography
Mathew Blurton-Jones, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California, Irvine. He serves as Director of the UCI ADRC iPS Cell Core, Director of the Stem Cell Center CRISPR Core, and Chair of the Human Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee. Blurton-Jones is also co-founder of Savanna Biotherapeutics, a company focused on developing stem cell-based therapies for neurological disorders. He received his Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the University of California San Diego in 2002.
Blurton-Jones has established a research program focused on understanding the role of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases and developing stem cell-based therapeutic approaches. His laboratory developed methods to generate human microglia from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), enabling the study of human microglial function in health and disease. This work has led to the creation of chimeric mouse models in which human microglia can be studied in vivo, providing insights into how genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions affect microglial function. His research has also explored the therapeutic potential of neural stem cell transplantation in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Huntington's disease.
Blurton-Jones is a member of the Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research Leadership Group and has served on multiple NIH study sections and external advisory boards. His lab publishes extensively in journals including Cell Stem Cell, Neuron, Nature, Molecular Neurodegeneration, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and PNAS. His research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Cure Alzheimer's Fund, and the Alzheimer's Association. He also holds multiple patents related to the differentiation, use, and transplantation of human microglia from pluripotent stem cells, which have been licensed to commercial entities.
Return to topEducation
- B.A. in Biological Sciences, University California Santa Barbara, 1994
- Ph.D. in Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, 2002
Distinctions
- Member, Cure Alzheimer's Fund Research Leadership Group, 2020
- Innovator of the Year Award, UCI Beall Applied Innovation, 2022
- Nominee, Distinguished Assistant Prof Teaching Award, 2015
- CIRM Postdoctoral Fellowship in Stem Cell Biology, 2006-2007
Areas of Expertise
- Neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's Disease
- Microglia Transplantation
- Microglial Biology and Function
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Microglia
- TREM2 and Immune Checkpoint Regulation
- CSF1R-Related Leukoencephalopathy Therapeutics
Recent Publications
- Chadarevian J.P., Nguyen J., Le L., Ayala L.A., Chadarevian A.L., Zhou C., Escobar A., Do A.T., Deynega E., Mansour K., Hasselmann J., Eskandari-Sedighi G., Lombroso S.I., Bennett F.C., Inlay M.A., Davtyan H., Blurton-Jones M., “CSF1R inhibitor-resistant model for CNS-wide microglia replacement strategies” (opens in new tab), Molecular Therapy, vol. 34, pp. 832-849, 2026.
- Davtyan H, Naguib S, Voskobiynyk Y, Chadarevian JP, Capocchi JK, Giacchino JL, Eskandari-Sedighi G, DeNittis V, Ford JB, Agababian A, Nguyen J, Chadarevian AL, Sutherland MS, Shabestari SK, Tran K, Holt B, Nana AL, Zhang J, Spina S, Wong MY, et al., “Transplantation of human iPSC-derived microglia ameliorates neuropathology and circuit dysfunction in progranulin-deficient mice.” (opens in new tab), Molecular Neurodegeneration, 2026.
- 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, “Harnessing human iPSC-microglia for CNS-wide delivery of disease-modifying proteins” (opens in new tab), Cell Stem Cell, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 914-934.e8, 2025.
- Weerakkody T.N., Sabelstrom H., Andrews S.V., Chadarevian J.P., Chin M.Y., Tatarakis D., Propson N.E., Kim D.J., Theolis R., Parico G.C.G., Misker H., Kung J.E., Bandyopadhyay A., Colmenares Y.R., Jackson T.-N., Qerqez A.N., Balasundar S., Davis S.S., Ha C., Ghosh R., et al., “Loss of PILRA promotes microglial immunometabolism to reduce amyloid pathology in cell and mouse models of Alzheimer's disease” (opens in new tab), Science Translational Medicine, vol. 17, 2025.
- Coburn M.A., Eskandari-Sedighi G., Hasselmann J., England W., Shabestari S.K., Mansour K., McQuade A., Mgerian M.A., Chadarevian J.P., Tu C., Silva J., Beck J., Keulen Z., Spitale R.C., Davtyan H., 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, 2025.
- Chadarevian JP, Hasselmann J, Lahian A, Capocchi J, Escobar A, Lim TE, Tu C, Le L, Nguyen J, Kiani Shabestari S, Carlen-Jones W, Gandhi S, Bu G, Hume DA, Pridans C, Wszolek ZK, Spitale RC, Davtyan H, Blurton-Jones M, “Therapeutic potential of human microglial transplantation in a chimeric model of CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy” (opens in new tab), Neuron, vol. 112, no. 16, pp. 2686-2707.e8, 2024.
- 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, et al., “Engineering an inhibitor resistant human CSF1R variant for microglia replacement” (opens in new tab), Journal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 220, no. 3, pp. e20220857, 2023.
- Eskandari-Sedighi G, Blurton-Jones M, “Microglial APOE4: more is less and less is more” (opens in new tab), Molecular Neurodegeneration, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 99, 2023.
- 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, et al., “Absence of microglia promotes diverse pathologies and early lethality in Alzheimer's disease mice” (opens in new tab), Cell Reports, vol. 39, no. 11, pp. 110961, 2022.
- 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, “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, pp. 1765-1778, 2022.
- 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, “Plaque-associated human microglia accumulate lipid droplets in a chimeric model of Alzheimer's disease” (opens in new tab), Molecular Neurodegeneration, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 50, 2021.
- McQuade A, Blurton-Jones M, “Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Microglia (hiPSC-Microglia)” (opens in new tab), Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2454, pp. 473-482, 2021.
Most Cited Publications
- Taylor AM, Blurton-Jones M, Rhee SW, Cribbs DH, Cotman CW, Jeon NL, “A Microfluidic Neuronal Culture Platform for CNS Axonal Injury, Regeneration and Transport” (opens in new tab), Nature Methods, vol. 2, pp. 599-605, 2005.
- 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, et al., “iPSC-derived human microglia-like cells to study neurological diseases” (opens in new tab), Neuron, vol. 94, no. 2, pp. 278-293, 2017.
- Blurton-Jones M, Kitazawa M, Martinez-Coria H, Castello N, Muller FJ, Loring JF, Yamasaki T, Poon WW, Green KN, LaFerla FM, “Neural stem cells improve cognition via BDNF in a transgenic model of Alzheimer disease” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 106, pp. 13594-13599, 2009.
- Marsh SE, Abud EM, Lakatos A, Karimzadeh A, Yeung ST, Davtyan H, Fote GM, Lau L, Weinger JG, Lane TE, Inlay M, Poon WW, Blurton-Jones M, “The adaptive immune system restrains Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis by modulating microglial function” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 113, pp. E1316-E1325, 2016.
- McQuade A, Coburn M, Tu CH, 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.
- 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, et al., “Development of a Chimeric Model to Study and Manipulate Human Microglia In Vivo” (opens in new tab), Neuron, vol. 103, no. 6, pp. 1016-1033, 2019.
- 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, 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. 5370, 2020.
- Ager R, Davis JL, Agazaryan A, Benavente F, Poon WW, LaFerla FM, Blurton-Jones M, “Human neural stem cells improve cognition and promote synaptic growth in two complementary transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease and neuronal loss” (opens in new tab), Hippocampus, vol. 25, pp. 813-826, 2014.
Contact Information
Website: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/blurtonjoneslab/
Email: mblurton@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-5243
Address: 3014 Gross Hall
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Last updated on 8/15/2026.