Steven J. Bensinger

Professor of Immunology and Immune Therapeutics and Cancer Biology

Chair, Department of Immunology and Immune Therapeutics

Image of Steven J. Bensinger
Is this your profile? Click to edit

Overview

Steven Bensinger, VMD, PhD, serves as Chair of the Department of Immunology and Immune Therapeutics. He previously served at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he held the positions of Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Personnel in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, as well as Director of the UCLA Lipidomics Laboratory. Since 2008, Dr. Bensinger has performed innovative research and pioneered advanced analytical methods to elucidate how lipid metabolism influences innate and adaptive immunity. Continuously funded by the NIH for the past 17 years, he has earned notable professional honors, including the Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award, the UCLA Life Sciences Excellence Award for Outstanding Research, and the Sherie and Donald Morrison Endowed Chair in Immunology. His leadership roles have included serving as Director of the Inflammation, Immunology, Infection, and Transplantation (I3T) Research Theme at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Director of Shared Resources at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA.

Research Funding

  • Targeting host lipid metabolism to limit tissue damage in necrotizing fasciitis
    NIH · R01AI175831 · Feb 1, 2023 – Jan 31, 2028 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • CDKN2A couples lipid metabolism to ferroptosis in glioblastoma
    NIH · R01NS121319 · Apr 1, 2021 – Jan 31, 2026 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • Investigating the impact of a fatty acid-cRel inflammatory circuit in atherosclerosis
    NIH · R01HL157710 · Apr 1, 2021 – Mar 31, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Understanding the influence of SREBP signaling on CD4 T helper cell biology
    NIH · R01AI122282 · Nov 10, 2015 – Oct 31, 2020 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Investigating the crosstalk between lipid metabolism and HIV
    NIH · R21HL126556 · Sep 17, 2014 – Jun 30, 2016 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Determining the Impact of SREBP on Adaptive Immunity
    NIH · R01AI093768 · Apr 1, 2012 – Mar 31, 2017 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Apoptosis in the Generation of T-cell Memory
    NIH · K01RR021975 · Sep 30, 2005 – Jun 30, 2010 · Role: Principal Investigator

Publications

  • Beyond ATP: Lipid-Driven Plasticity and the Immunometabolism of ILC2s. Cells. 2026 May 03; 15(9).. View in PubMed
  • p21+TREM2+ senescent macrophages fuel inflammaging and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease. Nat Aging. 2026 Apr; 6(4):792-815.. View in PubMed
  • SCD1 and SCD5 modulate PARP-dependent DNA repair via fatty acid desaturation in glioblastoma. Cell Rep. 2026 Apr 13; 45(4):117223.. View in PubMed
  • Early Human Pulmonary Lesions Define a Permissive Alveolar Niche for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. bioRxiv. 2025 Oct 17.. View in PubMed
  • T cell cholesterol transport links intestinal immune responses to dietary lipid absorption. Science. 2025 Oct 09; 390(6769):eadt4169.. View in PubMed
  • SCD1 and SCD5 Modulate PARP-Dependent DNA Repair via Fatty Acid Desaturation in Glioblastoma. bioRxiv. 2025 Jul 27.. View in PubMed
  • Defining STING-sterol interactions with chemoproteomics. RSC Chem Biol. 2025 Aug 27; 6(9):1451-1464.. View in PubMed
  • Tegavivint triggers TECR-dependent nonapoptotic cancer cell death. Nat Chem Biol. 2025 Dec; 21(12):1873-1884.. View in PubMed
  • Oropharyngeal Administration of Bleomycin in the Murine Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis. J Vis Exp. 2025 05 09.. View in PubMed
  • Psychological stress increases skin infection through the action of TGFβ to suppress immune-acting fibroblasts. Sci Immunol. 2025 04 11; 10(106):eads0519.. View in PubMed