Dr. Jason Carlyon

Jason Carlyon is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (VCU SOM).

He joined the VCU SOM in 2007 after moving from the University of Kentucky Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, where he was an Assistant Professor. He received his Ph.D. from VCU, where he studied Borrelia pathogenesis under the mentoring of Dr. Rich Marconi. Dr. Carlyon did his postdoctoral work in the Yale University Department of Internal Medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Erol Fikrig.

While at Yale, Dr. Carlyon initiated his work on Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which is the etiologic agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis and an obligate intracellular bacterium that invades neutrophils to reside within a host cell-derived vacuole. He is currently focused on the cellular microbiology of A. phagocytophilum and Orientia tsutsugamushi, which is another obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen and the causative agent of scrub typhus. Specifically, his laboratory is studying how A. phagocytophilum and O. tsutsugamushi adhere to and invade host cells.

His lab’s work also centers on how A. phagocytophilum modifies the host cell-derived vacuole in which it resides to camouflage itself, interact with host membrane trafficking and signaling pathways, and facilitate its intracellular survival.

Dr. Carlyon presently serves on the executive board of the American Society for Rickettsiology.