Francisco J. Quintana

Francisco J. Quintana (born April 30, 1974) is an Argentinean-American immunologist and neuroscientist, and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.

His lab studies interactions between the immune system and nervous system.

He is best known for his work on the regulation of inflammation by astrocytes, and by the study of the role of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor in the regulation of the immune response by pollutants, the microbial flora and metabolism.

Dr. Quintana's research has implications for our understanding of the pathology of multiple inflammatory disorders including multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and also brain tumors and infectious diseases.

His work has also led to the development of novel therapeutic interventions, and novel techniques for the investigation of regulatory mechanisms involved in the control of inflammation, including RABID-seq (Clark et al, Science 2021), FIND-seq (Clark et al, Nature 2023) and SPEAC-seq (Wheeler et al, Science 2023).

Dr. Quintana received his Diploma in Biology from the University of Buenos Aires.

He received his PhD in Immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2004, where he was advised by Dr. Irun Cohen.

Dr. Quintana has received multiple awards including the Lady Anne Chain Prize for Academic and Scientific Achievements (2004), the Junior Investigator Award from the National MS Society for Outstanding Research (2008), the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (2009), the Nature Publications Award for Outstanding Research Achievements (2009), the Harry Weaver Research Scholar Award (2014), the Harvard Medical School Young Mentor Award (2016), the Milestone in MS Research Award (2017), the American Association of Immunologists-BD Biosciences Investigator Award (2019), ISI Most Highly Cited List since 2019, the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research (2020) and the Raices Award from the Republic of Argentina.

Dr. Quintana is the Indirawati Kuchroo and Charlotte Weiner Distinguished Professor of Neuroimmunology (2021).

1. Quintana, F.J., Gerber, D., Kent, S.C., Cohen, I.R. & Shai, Y. HIV-1 fusion peptide targets the TCR and inhibits antigen-specific T cell activation.

Journal of Clinical Investigation, 115(8), 2149-2158 (2005).

2. Quintana, F.J., Basso, A.S., Iglesias, A.H., Korn, T., Farez, M.F., Bettelli, E., Caccamo, M., Oukka, M. & Weiner, H.L. Control of T(reg) and T(H)17 cell differentiation by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor.

Nature, 453(7191), 65-71 (2008).

3. *Farez, M.F., *Quintana F.J., Gandhi, R., Izquierdo, G., Lucas, M. & Weiner, H.L. TLR2 and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 promote central nervous system neuroinflammation in progressive EAE.

Dr. Quintana joined Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow in 2005 where he was advised by Dr. Howard L. Weiner.

Nature Immunology, 10(9), 958-964 (2009).

Corresponding author.

4. Apetoh, L., Quintana, F. J., Pot, C., Joller, N., Xiao, S., Kumar, D., Burns, E. J., Sherr, D. H., Weiner, H. L. & Kuchroo, V. K. (2010).

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacts with c-Maf to promote the differentiation of type 1 regulatory T cells induced by IL-27.

Nature Immunology, 11(9), 854–861 (2010).

5. Gandhi R., Kumar D., Burns E.J., Nadeau M., Dake B., Laroni A., Kozoriz D., Weiner H.L. & Quintana F.J.

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation induces human Tr1-like and Foxp3+ Treg cells.

Nature Immunology, 11(9), 846-53 (2010).

6. Yeste, A., Nadeau, M., Burns, E.J., Weiner, H.L. & Quintana, F.J. Nanoparticle-mediated codelivery of myelin antigen and a tolerogenic small molecule suppresses EAE.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 109(28), 11270-5 (2012).

7. *Quintana, F.J., *Jin, H., Burns, E.J., Nadeau, M., Yeste, A., Kumar, D., Rangachari, M., Zhu, C., Xiao, S., Seavitt, J., Georgopoulos, K. & Kuchroo, V.K. Aiolos promotes T(H)17 differentiation by directly silencing Il2 expression.

Nature Immunology, 13(8), 770-777 (2012).

8. Mascanfroni, I.D., Yeste, A., Vieira, S.M., Burns, E.J., Patel, B., Sloma, I., Wu, Y., Mayo, L., Efroni, S., Kuchroo, V.K., Robson, S.C. & Quintana, F.J. IL-27 acts on dendritic cells to suppress the T-cell response and autoimmunity by inducing ENTPD1 (CD39) expression.

Nature Immunology, 14(10), 1054-1063 (2013).

9. Yeste, A., Mascanfroni, I.D., Nadeau, M., Burns, E.J., Tukpah, A.M., Santiago, A., Wu, C., Patel, B., Kumar, D. & Quintana, F.J.

IL-21 induces IL-22 production in CD4+ T cells.

Nature Communications, 5, 3753 (2014).

In 2018, Dr. Quintana was appointed Professor of Neurology with tenure.

Dr. Quintana is also an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Dr. Quintana is the Indirawati Kuchroo and Charlotte Weiner Distinguished Professor of Neuroimmunology (2021).

Dr. Quintana is the president of International Society of Neuroimmunology (2021–2023).

Quintana's research investigates signaling pathways that control the immune response and neurodegeneration, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for immune-mediated disorders.

Dr. Quintana has published over 230 peer reviewed articles and book chapters.

Dr. Quintana's work identified important roles for the transcription factor AHR in the control of inflammation driven adaptive and innate immune cells.

His work also identified important mechanisms that control neurodegeneration and provided the basis for the development of four biotechnology companies.