Jason D. Ulrich, Ph.D.

Dr. Ulrich’s research focuses on the pathological mechanisms underlying major genetic risk factors for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), such as APOE4 and rare variants in TREM2. In particular, his work focuses on the role of the innate immune response during the onset and progression of amyloid beta and tau pathology, and neurodegeneration. Dr. Ulrich graduated with a B.S. in chemistry and biological sciences from Quincy University in 2004 and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Iowa in 2011. He has been an assistant professor at Washington University since 2015.

Related Research:

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Huynh, T. V., Wang, C., Tran, A. C., Tabor, G. T., Mahan, T. E., Francis, C. M., Finn, M. B., Spellman, R., Manis, M., Tanzi, R. E., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. Lack of hepatic apoE does not influence early A beta deposition: observations from a new APOE knock-in model, Molecular Neurodegeneration, October 17, 2019, Read More

Wang, C., Xiong, M., Gratuze, M., Bao, X., Shi, Y., Andhey, P. S., Manis, M., Schroeder, C., Yin, Z., Madore, C., Butovsky, O., Artyomov, M., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. Selective removal of astrocytic APOE4 strongly protects against tau-mediated neurodegeneration and decreases synaptic phagocytosis by microglia, Neuron, April 7, 2021, Read More

Krasemann, S., Madore, C., Cialic, R., Baufeld, C., ... Ulrich, J. D., … Lemere, C., Ikezu, T., ... Holtzman, D. M. … Haass, C., Butovsky, O. The TREM2-APOE Pathway drives the transcriptional phenotype of dysfunctional microglia in Neurodegenerative Diseases, Immunity, September 19, 2017, Read More

Chen, Y., Song, S., Parhizkar, S., Lord, J., Zhu, Y., Strickland, M. R., Wang, C., Park, J., Tabor, G. T., Jiang, H., Li, K., Davis, A. A., Yuede, C. M., Colonna, M., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. APOE3ch alters microglial response and suppresses Aβ-induced tau seeding and spread, Cell, December 11, 2023, Read More

Gratuze, M., Schlachetzki, J. C. M., D'Oliveira Albanus, R., Jain, N., Novotny, B., Brase, L., Rodriguez, L., Mansel, C., Kipnis, M., O'Brien, S., Pasillas, M. P., Lee, C., Manis, M., Colonna, M., Harari, O., Glass, C. K., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. TREM2-independent microgliosis promotes tau-mediated neurodegeneration in the presence of ApoE4, Neuron, November 10, 2022, Read More

Chen, X., Firulyova, M., Manis, M., Herz, J., Smirnov, I., Aladyeva, E., Wang, C., Bao, X., Finn, M. B., Hu, H., Shchukina, I., Kim, M. W., Yuede, C. M., Kipnis, J., Artyomov, M. N., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. Microglia-mediated T cell infiltration drives neurodegeneration in tauopathy, Nature, March 8, 2023, Read More

Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. TREM2 Function in Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurodegeneration, ACS Chemical Neuroscience, February 8, 2016, Read More

Mahan, T. E., Wang, C., Bao, X., Choudhury, A., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. Selective reduction of astrocyte apoE3 and apoE4 strongly reduces A beta accumulation and plaque-related pathology in a mouse model of amyloidosi, Molecular Neurodegeneration, February 2, 2022, Read More

Ulrich, J. D., Burchett, J. M., Restivo, J. L., Schuler, D. R., Verghese, P. B., Mahan, T. E., Landreth, G. E., Castellano, J. M., Jiang, H., Cirrito, J. R., & Holtzman, D. M. In vivo measurement of apolipoprotein E from the brain interstitial fluid using microdialysis, Molecular Neurodegeneration, April 19, 2013, Read More

Ulrich, J. D., Ulland, T. K., Mahan, T. E., Nyström, S., Nilsson, K. P., Song, W. M., Zhou, Y., Reinartz, M., Choi, S., Jiang, H., Stewart, F. R., Anderson, E., Wang, Y., Colonna, M., & Holtzman, D. M. APoE facilitates the microglia response to amyloid plaque pathology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, February 26, 2018, Read More

Ulrich, J. D., Ulland, T. K., Colonna, M., & Holtzman, D. M. Elucidating the role of TREM2 in Alzheimer’s Disease, Neuron, April 19, 2017, Read More

Leyns, C. E. G., Ulrich, J. D., Finn, M. B., Stewart, F. R., Koscal, L. J., Remolina Serrano, J., Robinson, G. O., Anderson, E., Colonna, M., & Holtzman, D. M. TREM2 deficiency attenuates neuroinflammation and protects against neurodegeneration in a mouse model of tauopathy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, October 9, 2017, Read More

Wang, C., Nambiar, A., Strickland, M. R., Lee, C., Parhizkar, S., Moore, A. C., Musiek, E. S., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. APOE-ε4 synergizes with sleep disruption to accelerate Aβ deposition and Aβ-associated tau seeding and spreading, Journal of Clinical Investigation, July 17, 2023, Read More

Ulrich, J. D., Finn, M. B., Wang, Y., Shen, A., Mahan, T. E., Jiang, H., Stewart, F. R., Piccio, L., Colonna, M., & Holtzman, D. M. Altered microglial response to A beta plaques in APPPS1-21 mice heterozygous for TREM2, Molecular Neurodegeneration, June 3, 2014, Read More

Leyns, C. E. G., Gratuze, M., Narasimhan, S., Jain, N., Koscal, L. J., Jiang, H., Manis, M., Colonna, M., Lee, V. M. Y., Ulrich, J. D., & Holtzman, D. M. TREM2 Function Impedes Tau Seeding in Neuritic Plaques, Nature Neuroscience, June 1, 2019, Read More

Wang, Y., Cella, M., Mallinson, K., Ulrich, J. D., Young, K. L., Robinette, M. L., Gilfillan, S., Krishnan, G. M., Sudhakar, S., Zinselmeyer, B. H., Holtzman, D. M., Cirrito, J. R., & Colonna, M. TREM2 Lipid Sensing Sustains the Microglial Response in an Alzheimer’s Disease Model, Cell, March 12, 2015, Read More

Zhou, Y., Song, W. M., Andhey, P. S., Swain, A., Levy, T., Miller, K. R., Poliani, P. L., Cominelli, M., Grover, S., Gilfillan, S., Cella, M., Ulland, T. K., Zaitsev, K., Miyashita, A., Ikeuchi, T., Sainouchi, M., Kakita, A., Bennett, D. A., Schneider, J. A., Nichols, M. R., Beausoleil, S. A., Ulrich, J., Holtzman, D. M., Artyomov, M. N., & Colonna, M. Human and mouse single-nucleus transcriptomics reveal TREM2-dependent and TREM2-independent cellular responses in Alzheimer’s disease, Nature Medicine, January 13, 2020, Read More

Drieu, A., Du, S., Kipnis, M., Bosch, M. E., Herz, J., Lee, C., Jiang, H., Manis, M., Ulrich, J. D., Kipnis, J., Holtzman, D. M., & Gratuze, M. Parenchymal border macrophages regulate tau pathology and tau-mediated neurodegeneration, Life Science Alliance, August 10, 2023, Read More