Rate My Professor Eynav Klechevsky

Eynav Klechevsky, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She directs the Immunology Training Program in the Division of Immunobiology, serves as Co-Director of the Immunology Program in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS), and holds affiliations with DBBS Cancer Biology, Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, and Computational and Systems Biology Programs. Klechevsky leads the Klechevsky Lab, which studies human dendritic cell (DC) biology to develop novel immunotherapies for cancer and autoinflammatory diseases. She earned her BSc in Molecular Biochemistry (Magna Cum Laude) and MSc during the direct PhD program from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. Her PhD in Immunology came from the excellence direct PhD program at the Technion in collaboration with the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research in Dallas, Texas, focusing on antigen presentation by tumor and dendritic cells and functional specializations of DC subsets.

Klechevsky's research addresses fundamental and translational questions in human immunology, particularly the functional specialization of DC subtypes, their co-receptor and cytokine production, T cell skewing and differentiation, and roles in disease. Using human patient samples and models, her lab has identified a new inflammatory DC type and mechanisms to enhance immune treatments for cancer and autoimmunity, aiming to create new vaccines and immunotherapies. She has received major awards including an RO1 grant from the National Cancer Institute (2020) for work on DCs in melanoma, an RO1 from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (2019) for skin DCs in psoriasis, an R21 NIH/NIBIB Trailblazer Award (2018) in collaboration with Amit Pathak, and a Translational Grant from the National Psoriasis Foundation (2017). Klechevsky chairs the 18th International Workshop on Langerhans Cells (LC2025). Key publications encompass "Functional specializations of human epidermal Langerhans cells and CD14+ dermal dendritic cells" (Immunity, 2008), "Electrophilic properties of itaconate and derivatives regulate the IκBζ–ATF3 inflammatory axis" (Nature, 2018), "Dendritic cell subsets in health and disease" (Immunological Reviews, 2007), "CD5 expression by dendritic cells directs T cell immunity and sustains immunotherapy responses" (Science, 2023), and "Dendritic cells function beyond antigen presentation" (Cancer Cell, 2025). Her research has amassed over 3,300 citations, significantly impacting dendritic cell research and immunotherapy development.