Steven Bensinger, VMD, PhD
Associate Professor, Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Dr. Bensinger runs one of the only labs in the world that can assess, in real time, how a cell’s lipid manufacturing pipeline is performing. He has found that immune cells profoundly change their lipid composition during infection, and that this change in lipid architecture is critical to the immune system’s ability to protect individuals from infections. Key ongoing studies include defining how these profound changes in the lipid architecture control immunity, and if targeting lipid metabolism increases the functionlity of the immune system to fight infections and eradicate cancer. Dr. Bensinger is the theme leader of the Immunology, Inflammation, Infection and Transplant research theme at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Dr. Bensinger received his veterinary medical degree and his Ph.D. degree in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a thesis on regulatory T-cell development and function in the laboratory of Dr. Laurence Turka, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Tontonoz at UCLA, where he examined the impact of lipid metabolism on T-cell growth and survival. Dr. Bensinger has received several professional honors, including the Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award and the 2016 UCLA Life Sciences Excellence Award for Outstanding Research.
Dr. Bensinger is also the theme leader for the Immunology, Inflammation, Infection and Transplant (I3T) Research Theme at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
