Education

PhD, University of California Santa Barbara, USA, 2007

Current position

Assistant Member, Immunology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA

Publications

1. Shwetank, Abdelsamed, H. A., Frost, E. L., Schmitz, H. M., Mockus, T. E., Youngblood, B. A. and Lukacher, A. E. (2017). Maintenance of PD-1 on brain-resident memory CD8 T cells is antigen independent. Immunol Cell Biol.
2. Allen, E. K., Randolph, A. G., Bhangale, T., Dogra, P., Ohlson, M., Oshansky, C. M., Zamora, A. E., Shannon, J. P., Finkelstein, D., Dressen, A., DeVincenzo, J., Caniza, M., Youngblood, B., Rosenberger, C. M. and Thomas, P. G. (2017). SNP-mediated disruption of CTCF binding at the IFITM3 promoter is associated with risk of severe influenza in humans. Nat Med 23(8): 975-983.
3. Ghoneim, H. E., Fan, Y., Moustaki, A., Abdelsamed, H. A., Dash, P., Dogra, P., Carter, R., Awad, W., Neale, G., Thomas, P. G. and Youngblood, B. (2017). De novo epigenetic programs inhibit PD-1 blockade mediated T cell rejuvenation Cell. 170(1): 142-157.
4. Abdelsamed, H. A., Moustaki, A., Fan, Y., Dogra, P., Ghoneim, H. E., Zebley, C. C., Triplett, B. M., Sekaly, R. P. and Youngblood, B. (2017). Human memory CD8 T cell effector potential is epigenetically preserved during in vivo homeostasis. J Exp Med 214(6): 1593-1606.
5. Ghoneim, H. E., Zamora, A. E., Thomas, P. G. and Youngblood, B. (2016). Cell-Intrinsic Barriers of T Cell-Based Immunotherapy. Trends In Molecular Medicine 22(12): 1000-1011.
6. Zeng, H., Cohen, S., Guy, C., Shrestha, S., Neale, G., Brown, S. A., Cloer, C., Kishton, R. J., Gao, X., Youngblood, B., Do, M., Li, M. O., Locasale, J. W., Rathmell, J. C. and Chi, H. (2016). mTORC1 and mTORC2 Kinase Signaling and Glucose Metabolism Drive Follicular Helper T Cell Differentiation. Immunity 45(3): 540-554.
7. Ahn, E., Youngblood, B., Lee, J., Lee, J., Sarkar, S. and Ahmed, R. (2016). Demethylation of the PD-1 Promoter Is Imprinted during the Effector Phase of CD8 T Cell Exhaustion. J Virol 90(19): 8934-8946.
8. Dogra, P., Ghoneim, H. E., Abdelsamed, H. A. and Youngblood, B. (2016). Generating long-lived CD8(+) T-cell memory: Insights from epigenetic programs. Eur J Immunol 46(7): 1548-1562.
9. Hwang, S., Cobb, D. A., Bhadra, R., Youngblood, B. and Khan, I. A. (2016). Blimp-1-mediated CD4 T cell exhaustion causes CD8 T cell dysfunction during chronic toxoplasmosis. J Exp Med 213(9): 1799-1818.
10. Youngblood, B., Hale, J. S. and Ahmed, R. (2015). Memory CD8 T cell transcriptional plasticity. F1000Prime Rep 7: 38.
11. Nakayama-Hosoya, K., Ishida, T., Youngblood, B., Nakamura, H., Hosoya, N., Koga, M., Koibuchi, T., Iwamoto, A. and Kawana-Tachikawa, A. (2015). Epigenetic repression of interleukin 2 expression in senescent CD4+ T cells during chronic HIV type 1 infection. J Infect Dis 211(1): 28-39.
12. Lu, P., Youngblood, B. A., Austin, J. W., Mohammed, A. U., Butler, R., Ahmed, R. and Boss, J. M. (2014). Blimp-1 represses CD8 T cell expression of PD-1 using a feed-forward transcriptional circuit during acute viral infection. J Exp Med 211(3): 515-527.
13. Araki, K., Youngblood, B. and Ahmed, R. (2013). Programmed cell death 1-directed immunotherapy for enhancing T-cell function. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 78: 239-247.
14. Scharer, C. D., Barwick, B. G., Youngblood, B. A., Ahmed, R. and Boss, J. M. (2013). Global DNA methylation remodeling accompanies CD8 T cell effector function. J Immunol 191(6): 3419-3429.
15. Youngblood, B., Hale, J. S. and Akondy, R. (2013). Using epigenetics to define vaccine-induced memory T cells. Curr Opin Virol 3(3): 371-376.
16. Youngblood, B., Noto, A., Porichis, F., Akondy, R. S., Ndhlovu, Z. M., Austin, J. W., Bordi, R., Procopio, F. A., Miura, T., Allen, T. M., Sidney, J., Sette, A., Walker, B. D., Ahmed, R., Boss, J. M., Sekaly, R. P. and Kaufmann, D. E. (2013). Cutting edge: Prolonged exposure to HIV reinforces a poised epigenetic program for PD-1 expression in virus-specific CD8 T cells. J Immunol 191(2): 540-544.
17. Youngblood, B., Hale, J. S. and Ahmed, R. (2013). T-cell memory differentiation: insights from transcriptional signatures and epigenetics. Immunology 139(3): 277-284.
18. West, E. E., Jin, H. T., Rasheed, A. U., Penaloza-Macmaster, P., Ha, S. J., Tan, W. G., Youngblood, B., Freeman, G. J., Smith, K. A. and Ahmed, R. (2013). PD-L1 blockade synergizes with IL-2 therapy in reinvigorating exhausted T cells. J Clin Invest 123(6): 2604-2615.
19. Hale, J. S., Youngblood, B., Latner, D. R., Mohammed, A. U., Ye, L., Akondy, R. S., Wu, T., Iyer, S. S. and Ahmed, R. (2013). Distinct memory CD4+ T cells with commitment to T follicular helper- and T helper 1-cell lineages are generated after acute viral infection. Immunity 38(4): 805-817.
20. Zinzow-Kramer, W. M., Long, A. B., Youngblood, B. A., Rosenthal, K. M., Butler, R., Mohammed, A. U., Skountzou, I., Ahmed, R., Evavold, B. D. and Boss, J. M. (2012). CIITA promoter I CARD-deficient mice express functional MHC class II genes in myeloid and lymphoid compartments. Genes Immun 13(4): 299-310.
21. Youngblood, B., Wherry, E. J. and Ahmed, R. (2012). Acquired transcriptional programming in functional and exhausted virus-specific CD8 T cells. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 7(1): 50-57.
22. West, E. E., Youngblood, B., Tan, W. G., Jin, H. T., Araki, K., Alexe, G., Konieczny, B. T., Calpe, S., Freeman, G. J., Terhorst, C., Haining, W. N. and Ahmed, R. (2011). Tight regulation of memory CD8(+) T cells limits their effectiveness during sustained high viral load. Immunity 35(2): 285-298.
23. Youngblood, B., Oestreich, K. J., Ha, S. J., Duraiswamy, J., Akondy, R. S., West, E. E., Wei, Z., Lu, P., Austin, J. W., Riley, J. L., Boss, J. M. and Ahmed, R. (2011). Chronic virus infection enforces demethylation of the locus that encodes PD-1 in antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells. Immunity 35(3): 400-412.
24. Youngblood, B., Davis, C. W. and Ahmed, R. (2010). Making memories that last a lifetime: heritable functions of self-renewing memory CD8 T cells. Int Immunol 22(10): 797-803.
25. Araki, K., Youngblood, B. and Ahmed, R. (2010). The role of mTOR in memory CD8 T-cell differentiation. Immunol Rev 235(1): 234-243.
26. Youngblood, B. and Reich, N. O. (2008). The early expressed HIV-1 genes regulate DNMT1 expression. Epigenetics 3(3): 149-156.
27. Youngblood, B., Bonnist, E., Dryden, D. T., Jones, A. C. and Reich, N. O. (2008). Differential stabilization of reaction intermediates: specificity checkpoints for M.EcoRI revealed by transient fluorescence and fluorescence lifetime studies. Nucleic Acids Res 36(9): 2917-2925.
28. Youngblood, B., Shieh, F. K., Buller, F., Bullock, T. and Reich, N. O. (2007). S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyl transfer: observable precatalytic intermediates during DNA cytosine methylation. Biochemistry 46(30): 8766-8775.
29. Youngblood, B., Buller, F. and Reich, N. O. (2006a). Determinants of Sequence-Specific DNA Methylation: Target recognition and catalysis are coupled in M.HhaI. Biochemistry 45, 15563-15572.
30. Shieh, F. K., Youngblood, B. and Reich, N. O. (2006). The role of Arg165 towards base flipping, base stabilization and catalysis in M.HhaI. J Mol Biol 362(3): 516-527.
31. Youngblood, B. and Reich, N. O. (2006). Conformational transitions as determinants of specificity for the DNA methyltransferase EcoRI. J Biol Chem 281(37): 26821-26831.
32. Youngblood, B., Shieh, F. K., De Los Rios, S., Perona, J. J. and Reich, N. O. (2006). Engineered extrahelical base destabilization enhances sequence discrimination of DNA methyltransferase M.HhaI. J Mol Biol 362(2): 334-346.
33. Sharma, V., Youngblood, B. and Reich, N. (2005). Residues distal from the active site that alter enzyme function in M.HhaI DNA cytosine methyltransferase. J Biomol Struct Dyn 22(5): 533-543.