Michelle James, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Radiology and
Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS)
Stanford University School of Medicine
Seminar Information
Inflammation is a multifaceted, dynamic, and biologically necessary response to injury or infection. Transient inflammation can be beneficial, leading to the clearance of damaged cells, tissue repair, toxin neutralization, and mitigation of pathogens. However, insufficient resolution of inflammation can lead to progressive tissue damage via unrestrained production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, inflammasome activation, and generation of reactive oxygen species. Such harmful immune responses are a common hallmark of many chronic conditions, including diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Long Covid. Likewise, harmful inflammatory reactions can significantly worsen outcomes in acute conditions like sepsis or stroke. Real-time monitoring of immune responses is critical to improve understanding and treatment of these diseases; however, current methods for detecting specific immune cells and their functional phenotypes in vivo are limited. In this talk I will summarize the current state-of-the-art of imaging immune responses in CNS diseases using positron emission tomography (PET), and in doing so will highlight recent advances from my lab, including the development of new radiotracers targeting the pro-inflammatory innate immune receptor GPR84 in addition to progress being made with tracers for illuminating innate and adaptive immune responses in the preclinical and clinical research settings.
Dr. James is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Radiology and Neurology, within the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS). She received her BS in pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at the University of Sydney, where she also earned her PhD in pharmacology and was awarded the University Medal. She served as the co-chair of the World Molecular Imaging Congress in 2021 and has received numerous awards for her impactful research and mentoring, including the Suffrage Science Award from the Medical Research Council in the UK in 2016, the Exceptional Mentor Award from the American Medical Women’s Association in 2018, and the Roger Tsien Award for significant contributions to molecular imaging in the area of chemical biology in 2024. For over twenty years her research has focused on developing new PET tracers for detecting immune cells in a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. As part of her work, Dr. James has translated multiple tracers to the clinic, many of which are patented and being used in clinical imaging research studies at Stanford and around the world.