Rate My Professor Na Xiong

Na Xiong, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she holds the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Professorship in Dermal Immunology, endowed in 2022. Her research focuses on the development and function of tissue-resident lymphocytes in the skin and their roles in local immune homeostatic regulation and inflammation. Key projects investigate mechanisms regulating expression of the skin- and mucosa-homing chemokine receptor CCR10 on innate and adaptive lymphocytes, the roles of chemokine receptors in lymphocyte migration and function under homeostatic and inflammatory conditions, and the establishment of skin-resident lymphocytes during early postnatal stages and their contributions to tissue homeostasis. She is also affiliated with the Division of Dermatology & Cutaneous Surgery in the Department of Medicine.

Na Xiong joined the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio as Professor in December 2018. Prior to this, she served as Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology at Pennsylvania State University from 2008 to 2018. Her laboratory has produced significant contributions to immunology, including studies on developmentally programmed early-age skin localization of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells supporting tissue development and homeostasis (Nature Immunology, 2023), direct activation of Toll-like receptor 4 signaling in group 2 innate lymphoid cells contributing to allergic disease inflammation (iScience, 2024), dysbiosis-activated IL-17-producing T cells promoting skin immunopathology in mice (Journal of Dermatological Science, 2024), and a binary module for microbiota-mediated regulation of γδ17 cells (Cell Reports, 2023). Earlier influential work includes NKG2D-deficient mice defective in tumor surveillance (2008, cited over 1100 times). Her research elucidates critical immune mechanisms in skin immunity, with implications for inflammatory skin diseases, allergies, and tissue homeostasis, advancing understanding of epithelial immunity through chemokine signaling and early-life lymphocyte programming.