Jennifer Blackburn

Dr. Jennifer Blackburn is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. She holds a PhD from the Medway School of Pharmacy (Universities of Kent and Greenwich, 2017). Her research investigates immune activation and inflammation in response to therapeutic and recreational drugs, focusing on cannabis's anti-inflammatory mechanisms and HIV's impact on immune responses. She is part of the Xu Lab and collaborates closely with researchers like John Elsworth and Sumit Jamwal. Her work spans neuropharmacology, immunology, and drug development, with recent publications exploring calcium signaling in neurotoxins, sex differences in neurodegenerative processes, and mitochondrial biology in primate brain models.

Key research themes include neuroprotective mechanisms, drug-induced gene expression, and the intersection of inflammation and neurodegenerative disorders. Her studies utilize nonhuman primate models to investigate sex-based disparities in brain protein expression and therapeutic implications for neurodegeneration. Collaborations emphasize translational research linking molecular biology to clinical outcomes. No awards or grants are explicitly listed, though her contributions to the Xu Lab and interdisciplinary teams highlight active engagement in collaborative science.