Hana Janova, PhD
- Assistant Professor, IMM-Center for Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology
Biography
Dr. Hana Janova is an Assistant Professor at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, where she is a member of the Center for Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School.
Dr. Janova earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Molecular Biology and Immunology from Charles University. She completed her Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine at University of Göttingen, where she investigated the role of the CD14 receptor in microglial responses to injury and infection.
She pursued postdoctoral training at University of Virginia and the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, continuing her work on brain neuroinflammation and microglia in models of injury and neuropsychiatric diseases.
At Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Janova expanded her research focus to neuroimmune interactions in the gut during viral infection. Using a model of West Nile virus infection, she uncovered mechanisms by which T cells target enteric neurons, leading to long-lasting gut pathology and dysmotility. In the same model, she identified gut-resident macrophages as critical gatekeepers that, through interactions with enteric glia, regulate immune response intensity and neuronal damage.
As an independent investigator, Dr. Janova studies how interactions between gut immune cells, enteric neurons, and enteric glia are altered in models of neurodegeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as following brain insults such as stroke and traumatic brain injury. Her long-term goal is to better understand mechanisms that may contribute to altered gut–brain neuroimmune communication and to explore potential approaches for reducing inflammation and improving neurological outcomes.
Publications
Selected publications (first or last author)
• Janova. H., Zhao, F.R., Akgul, A., Schatz, M., Alligood, D.M., Alvarado, D.M., Thackrey, L.B., Stappenbeck, T.S. & Diamond, M.S. Macrophage-glia interactions regulate immune damage to enteric 1 neurons during West Nile virus infection. PNAS. (2026) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2537058123
• Janova, H., Zhao, F. R., Desai, P., Mack, M., Thackray, L. B., Stappenbeck, T. S., & Diamond, M. S. West Nile virus triggers intestinal dysmotility via T cell-mediated enteric nervous system injury. J Clin Invest. (2024) https://doi.org/10.1172/jci181421
• Garcia-Agudo, L. F., Janova, H., Sendler, L. E., Arinrad, S., Steixner, A. A., Hassouna, I., Balmuth, E., Ronnenberg, A., Schopf, N., van der Flier, F. J., Begemann, M., Martens, H., Weber, M. S., Boretius, S., Nave, K. A., & Ehrenreich, H. Genetically induced brain inflammation by Cnp deletion transiently benefits from microglia depletion. Faseb j (2019), 33(7), 8634-8647. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.201900337R
• Janova, H., Arinrad, S., Balmuth, E., Mitjans, M., Hertel, J., Habes, M., Bittner, R. A., Pan, H., Goebbels, S., Begemann, M., Gerwig, U. C., Langner, S., Werner, H. B., Kittel-Schneider, S., Homuth, G., Davatzikos, C., Völzke, H., West, B. L., Reif, A., . . . Nave, K. A. Microglia ablation alleviates myelin-associated catatonic signs in mice. J Clin Invest (2018), 128(2), 734-745. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci97032
• Döring, C., Regen, T., Gertig, U., van Rossum, D., Winkler, A., Saiepour, N., Brück, W., Hanisch, U. K., & Janova, H. A presumed antagonistic LPS identifies distinct functional organization of TLR4 in mouse microglia.
Glia (2017), 65(7), 1176-1185. https://doi.org/10.1002/glia.23151
• Janova, H., Böttcher, C., Holtman, I. R., Regen, T., van Rossum, D., Götz, A., Ernst, A. S., Fritsche, C., Gertig, U., Saiepour, N., Gronke, K., Wrzos, C., Ribes, S., Rolfes, S., Weinstein, J., Ehrenreich, H., Pukrop, T., Kopatz, J., Stadelmann, C., . . . Hanisch, U. K. CD14 is a key organizer of microglial responses to CNS infection and injury. Glia (2016), 64(4), 635-649. https://doi.org/10.1002/glia.22955