Matthew Pipkin

Matthew Pipkin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Florida, where he leads the Pipkin Lab at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology. His research focuses on elucidating how chromatin structure and transcription controls the gene expression programs that establish and maintain the differentiated states of T cells.

Dr. Pipkin previously held positions as Associate Professor in Cancer Biology and Immunology and Microbial Science at Scripps Research (2014-2017), and Assistant Professor in the same departments at Scripps Research (2012-2014). His laboratory is located at 130 Scripps Way #2C1, Jupiter, Florida 33458.

His research primarily investigates how naïve CD8 T cells differentiate into effector and memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), which are killer lymphocytes with significant therapeutic promise for controlling viral infections and cancer. The Pipkin lab has developed novel approaches to map chromatin structures at unprecedented resolution, created reporter genes to track cells in vivo that induce expression of Prf1 (an essential gene for anti-tumor killing activity), and established the only systems to conduct genome-scale pooled RNAi screens in T cells during actual viral infections.

Through these innovative tools, Dr. Pipkin's research is clarifying how transcription factors govern nucleosome organization that enforces CTL differentiation, identifying chromatin regulatory factors that maintain the differentiated state epigenetically, and demonstrating how these processes mediate durable immunity. His publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding transcriptional regulation in T cells, with significant work on chromatin structure, HIV transcription, and cancer immunotherapy applications.

Dr. Pipkin's research is supported by multiple active grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIAID and NINDS), the American Heart Association, and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, with projects focused on CD8 T cell memory, nuclear receptor networks in mucosal immunity, transcription factor regulation of T cell differentiation, and chromatin regulators of HIV-1 latency.

He maintains active collaborations with researchers from Dartmouth, La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, UC San Diego, UAB Birmingham, and the Mucosal Immunology Studies Team, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of his work at the intersection of immunology, epigenetics, and molecular biology.