ABOUT
Dr. Tinoco is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine, School of Biological Sciences, in the department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. He is a member of the UCI Institute for Immunology, the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (CFCCC), the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), and the Center for Virus Research (CVR). He completed his Ph.D. training at UC San Diego, and discovered how transforming growth factor beta (TGF-b) signaling promoted the generation of exhausted T cell during chronic viral infection (Immunity 2009).
As a postdoctoral fellow at SBP Discovery and UC San Diego, he discovered a new immune checkpoint function for the adhesion molecule, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1) that induced T cell exhaustion during chronic viral infection and melanoma tumor development (Immunity 2016). We highlighted our findings and reviewed PSGL-1 biology (Trends Immunology 2017), and provided insight on potential PSGL-1 therapeutics (Immunotherapy 2017).
Dr. Tinoco is also interested in immune responses to respiratory viruses and discovered an important function for fucosyltransferases in supporting memory CD4+ T cell differentiation during influenza viral infection (J Immunology 2018). His laboratory continues efforts to uncover immune regulators that promote T cell dysfunction during viral infections and tumors. He is also collaborating with CVR members to investigate immune responses to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
EDUCATION
University of California, San Diego
Ph.D. Biology
Advisor: Elina Zuniga, Ph.D.
Chronic viral infections
University of California, Irvine
B.S. Neurobiology
Advisor: Victoria Niklas, M.D.
Intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes
HONORS
- 2019 American Cancer Society Grant
- 2018 Department of Defense Early Career Award
- 2018 Melanoma Research Alliance Early Career Award
- 2014 UC President and Chancellor’s Fellowship
- 2011 NIH UC San Diego IRACDA Fellowship
- 2005 NIH LSAMP-BD Fellowship
MEET THE TINOCO LAB
Monique Henriquez
Laboratory Manager
Monique joined the Tinoco lab in fall of 2018 as the Laboratory Manager. She is responsible for managing the mouse colony, performing in-vivo experiments, training incoming students, and overall making sure the lab runs smoothly.
Monique obtained her Bachelor’s degree at University of California, San Diego in 2013. She previously worked at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute.
Outside of the lab Monique is a foodie, loves to travel, and spend time with family.
Jamie-Jean De La Torre
Graduate Student
Jamie-Jean joined the Tinoco Lab as a PhD student in 2023. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020, where she first began researching the tumor microenvironment in triple-negative breast cancer. After graduation, she continued her journey in research as a postbaccalaureate CRTA fellow at the National Cancer Institute, where she studied T cell development until 2022.
Jamie-Jean is now a graduate student in Dr. Tinoco’s lab, and she is looking forward to continuing her training as she studies cancer immunology in the context of T cell exhaustion. She hopes to gain a better understanding of the anti-tumor immune response in order to potentially identify mechanisms that can be exploited to treat cancer in preclinical models.
Outside of lab, Jamie-Jean enjoys relaxing with friends and family, creating content for r/Immunologymemes, and crocheting while watching tv shows.
Xiyu Chen
Graduate Student
Xiyu Chen joined the Tinoco Lab as a PhD student in Spring 2025. She received her undergraduate degree in China and completed her Master’s in Biotechnology at UC Irvine (2020–2022). After graduation, she worked as a staff research associate in the Anderson Lab at the UCI Stem Cell Research Center (2022–2024).
Her current research in the Tinoco Lab explores how AMPK signaling and its regulation by SAPS3 influences T cell function and exhaustion in chronic viral infection and tumor models.
Outside the lab, Xiyu enjoys spending time with her family and cats, exploring the food in Orange County, and playing video games.
LAB ALUMNI
Christopher Garcia
Former Lab Technician
Chris joined the Tinoco Lab in February 2024 as a Lab Technician and helped manage our mouse colony. He also assisted with some of our virus studies.
Melissa Thone
Former Postdoctural Fellow
Melissa joined the Tinoco Lab in August 2022 as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the NIH T32 IDCR Program. Her project investigated immune checkpoints and their impacts on DC dysfunction and T cell exhaustion using melanoma and viral models.
Karla Viramontes
Graduate Student
Karla completed her Ph.D. in the Tinoco Lab July of 2024. She extensively studied T-cell responses to acute and chronic viral infections, using in vivo models.
Emily Neubert
Former Graduate Student
Emily completed her Ph.D. in the Tinoco Lab July of 2023. She extensively studied T-cell responses to acute and chronic viral infections, using in vivo models.
Julia DeRogatis
Former Graduate Student
Julia completed her Ph.D. in the Tinoco lab May of 2023. During her time in the lab she investigated immune checkpoints in melanoma tumor models.
Julia is now a Postdoc in Discovery Immunology at Janseen.
Jonathan Luu
Former Undergraduate Student
Jonathan joined the Tinoco Lab in Winter of 2022 as an undergraduate student in the Bio 199 program. He assisted in various projects in the lab which focused on understanding T cell exhaustion during LCMV infection.
Kaley Mitchell
Former Undergraduate Student
Kaley was in the Tinoco lab Winter 2022 and assisted with experiments focused on investigating the role of PSGL1 in conditional KO models during LCMV infection.
Shanyao Jiao
Former Master’s Student
Shanyao completed her Master’s degree in the Tinoco lab Spring of 2022. During her time in the lab Shanyao focused on histology for an Alzhimer’s Dieases model.
Amy Takahashi
Former Master’s Student
Amy was in the Tinoco Lab from 2018-2019, while she completed her Master of Science in Biotechnology Management at UCI.
Amy currently works at Edwards Lifesciences in Project Management.