Gordon Meares, PhD

About

Biography

I am an Associate Professor of Neurology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, with a joint appointment in Microbial Infection and Immunity. My research examines how astrocytes and microglia regulate neuroinflammation and cellular stress responses in neurological disease. Before joining OSU in 2023, I led an NIH-funded neuroimmunology program at West Virginia University. I previously received a Career Transition Fellowship from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where I also earned my PhD studying molecular mechanisms of neuronal cell death.

The Meares Lab investigates how glial cells coordinate immune and stress-response pathways that determine outcomes after CNS injury or inflammation. Astrocytes and microglia are key regulators of neuroinflammatory balance—integrating stress signals, cytokine networks, and metabolic cues to influence neuronal survival and immune cell recruitment.

Our work defines how these glial pathways become maladaptive in neurological disease. We focus on:

• JAK/STAT signaling in astrocytes and microglia that amplifies or resolves inflammation.
• Integrated stress response (ISR) activation and translational control mechanisms that reshape glial function under stress.
• Cytokine and chemokine programs that mediate cross-talk between glia, T cells, and infiltrating immune populations.
• Translational interventions, including small-molecule ISR and JAK modulators, that may restore homeostatic glial states.

We integrate conditional knockout models, transcriptomics, and proteomics, and to dissect these pathways in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), ischemic stroke, and neurodegeneration. The overarching goal is to translate mechanistic insight into therapeutic strategies targeting maladaptive glial responses in neurological disease.

Credentials

Research