Biography

Dr. David Farrar earned his PhD in Immunology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and completed post-doctoral training at Washington University with Dr. Kenneth Murphy. He joined the Department of Immunology at UT Southwestern in 2001.

The Farrar Lab is generally interested in understanding how external signals, such as cytokines and neurotransmitters, regulate immune function. Our research has mainly focused on T cell development and responses to infection. More recently, we have broadened our interests to understand the regulation of immunity by the sympathetic nervous system and circadian rhythms.

Dr. Farrar’s lab has made important discoveries surrounding the role of type I interferon in T cell development including its role in promoting memory T cell development and suppressing type 2 T cells that regulate allergic diseases. Further, his lab has discovered an important role for adrenergic signaling in suppressing both innate and adaptive T cell inflammatory processes in the context of infection and systemic inflammation.

Education

Undergraduate
Houston Baptist University (1989), Biology
Graduate School
Univ of Tx Southwestern Med Ct (1996), Immunology

Research Interest

  • Circadian rhythms in immunity
  • Cytokine gene regulation
  • Cytokine regulation of T cell development
  • Host/pathogen interactions
  • Neural control of immune responses

Publications

Featured Publications LegendFeatured Publications

Adrenergic signaling controls early transcriptional programs during CD8+ T cell responses to viral infection.
Estrada LD, Agaç Çobanoglu D, Wise A, Maples RW, Çobanoglu MC, Farrar JD, PLoS One 2022 17 8 e0272017
Adrenergic regulation of immune cell function and inflammation.
Sharma D, Farrar JD, Semin Immunopathol 2020 Dec 42 6 709-717
Type I interferon suppresses memory Th2 cell cytokine secretion from allergic subjects.
Chen F, Rowe RK, Gill MA, Farrar JD, Allergy 2019 Sep
Adrenergic Signaling at the Interface of Allergic Asthma and Viral Infections.
Agaç D, Gill MA, Farrar JD Front Immunol 2018 9 736
Sympathetic neural signaling via the ?2-adrenergic receptor suppresses T-cell receptor-mediated human and mouse CD8(+) T-cell effector function.
Estrada LD, Agaç D, Farrar JD Eur. J. Immunol. 2016 May
IL-12 selectively programs effector pathways that are stably expressed in human CD8+ effector memory T cells in vivo.
Chowdhury FZ, Ramos HJ, Davis LS, Forman J, Farrar JD Blood 2011 Oct 118 14 3890-900

Honors & Awards

  • Travel for Techniques Award
    American Association of Immunologists (2018)
  • Mentor: Inaugural Careers in Immunology Fellowship
    American Association of Immunologists (2014)
  • Minority Mentor-Trainee Award
    American Association of Immunologists (2006)
  • Junior Faculty Travel Award
    American Association of Immunologists (2005)
  • Special Fellow Award
    The Leukemia Society of America (2001)

Professional Associations/Affiliations

  • American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) (2010)
  • American Association of Immunologists (2001)