Christopher Glass stands as a preeminent molecular biologist whose career has fundamentally advanced our understanding of cellular regulation in health and disease. He currently holds the distinguished titles of Distinguished Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, positions he has earned through decades of exceptional scientific contribution. After completing his biophysics undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 1977, he pursued dual MD and PhD training at UC San Diego, which he completed in 1984. His clinical training included internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston before returning to UC San Diego for fellowship training in Endocrinology and Metabolism. As one of the founding members of UC San Diego's Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, he has been instrumental in shaping the institution's research trajectory since joining the faculty in 1992.
Dr. Glass's groundbreaking research has revolutionized our understanding of transcriptional mechanisms that govern macrophage development and function, with profound implications for numerous inflammatory diseases. His laboratory pioneered approaches to determine how sequence-specific transcription factors and their co-regulators operate at both gene-specific and genome-wide scales to establish specialized macrophage phenotypes across different tissue environments. Through innovative use of macrophage-specific knockouts, massively parallel sequencing, and sophisticated bioinformatics, his work has elucidated how nuclear hormone receptors and signal-dependent transcription factors regulate programs of gene expression in immunity and disease pathogenesis. His discoveries regarding tissue-specific signals in establishing diverse macrophage phenotypes, including microglia in the brain, have provided critical insights into inflammatory processes underlying atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions. With an h-index exceeding 100, his research has generated over 300 highly influential publications that continue to shape the field of immunometabolism and inflammatory disease research.
As an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Glass represents the pinnacle of scientific achievement and leadership in biomedical research. His laboratory continues to push boundaries by developing novel machine learning formulations to capture models from multi-omic data, advancing the structural discovery of transcription factor networks and enabling in silico mutagenesis approaches. Beyond his own research program, he has mentored generations of scientists who now lead laboratories worldwide, significantly expanding the impact of his conceptual frameworks across immunology and molecular medicine. Current investigations in the Glass laboratory focus on applying genetic and genomic approaches to modify pathological programs of macrophage gene expression, with the goal of developing novel therapeutic strategies for chronic inflammatory diseases. His enduring scientific vision continues to illuminate the complex interplay between transcriptional regulation and cellular function, ensuring his lasting influence on both basic science and translational medicine for years to come.
