Tyler Lewy

Tyler Lewy

Tyler Lewy

Neurovirologist at NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories

I'm interested in how frontier AI systems handle biological knowledge, and in how that knowledge is communicated to the public.

Doctorate
Ph.D.Virology, Rockefeller University
Experience
12 yrBiomedical research
Publications
09Five as first author
Citations
437Google Scholar (opens in a new tab), Aug 2026
01About

Explaining a result is part of getting it right.

I work on how the body defends itself against viruses that reach places they shouldn't — the brain, the lung. My dissertation at Rockefeller began as a question nobody in the lab was working on, and ended as a first-author paper in Immunity describing a signaling network that puts the brain into a defensive state before an infection ever arrives.

Over a decade of biomedical research has taught me that the greatest finding at the bench means nothing if you cannot communicate it to the world. Scientific writing is an underappreciated skill. It's one thing to write a paper your peers will understand. It's far more difficult to write a piece your mother-in-law can also digest.

Throughout my career I've taken several opportunities to communicate science to the broader public. I lectured for the Biomedical Research After-School Scholars program at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, breaking down complex virology and epidemiology concepts into lab modules for middle school students. I've advised multiple trainees, several with no prior biology experience, through rotations, summer projects, and post-baccalaureate work.

Lately my interests have shifted toward frontier AI. I'm not an AI researcher; I'm a neurovirologist who has spent a career communicating complex and thorny subjects to both academic and lay audiences.

02Writing

Interpreting science for the public

Two examples. First, a paper I wrote and published during my PhD training at Rockefeller University. Side by side are the abstract from the scientific paper and a lay summary for the public. Second, an explainer piece reviewing a complex paper exploring the intersection of biology, AI, and safety.

  1. 01 More than a wall An alarm raised in the foot puts the brain on antiviral alert days before any virus could arrive. The blood-brain barrier turns out to be more active in immune communication than expected. Immunity 2026
    First author
  2. 02 The threat of novelty Scientists have successfully created viable viruses using generative AI. But how different is this from nature? Should we be worried? Essay 2026
    AI safety
03Publications

Published work

Research articles

  1. 01
    Brain endothelial cells orchestrate a neuroprotective antiviral state in the central nervous system in response to peripheral viral pattern sensing (opens in a new tab) Lewy T, Sierra MA, Pourshadi N, Hoffmann HH, Dinnon KH, Gola A, Wang W, Chen HA, Quirk C, Zhang H, Doyle MP, Mason CE, Diehl GE, Hohl TM, Fuchs E, MacDonald MR, Wu Z, Crowe JE, Rice CM, Lercher A.
    Immunity 2026
    59(7):1825–1842
    doi (opens in a new tab)
  2. 02
    An immunocompetent murine model of virus-elicited liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (opens in a new tab) Batista MN, Bordignon J, Pamplona Mosimann AL, Bobrowski T, Chen HA, Tobin-Xet G, Barrall EA, Prokhnevska N, Vaidya AB, Lewy T, Dinnon KH, Seifert LL, Zeck B, Quirk C, Ho YJ, Filliol A, Wolfisberg R, Jiang C, Cogliati B, Chiriboga L, Theise N, MacDonald MR, Kamphorst AO, Scheel TK, Sheahan TP, Billerbeck E, Lowe SW, Rosenberg BR, Rice CM.
    J Hepatology 2026
    doi (opens in a new tab)
  3. 03
    Antiviral innate immune memory in alveolar macrophages following SARS-CoV-2 infection ameliorates secondary influenza A virus disease (opens in a new tab) Lercher A, Cheong JG, Bale MJ, Jiang C, Hoffmann HH, Ashbrook AW, Lewy T, Yin YS, Quirk C, DeGrace EJ, Chiriboga L, Rosenberg BR, Josefowicz SZ, Rice CM.
    Immunity 2024
    57(11):2530–2546
    doi (opens in a new tab)
  4. 04
    A genome-wide arrayed CRISPR screen identifies PLSCR1 as an intrinsic barrier to SARS-CoV-2 entry that recent virus variants have evolved to resist (opens in a new tab) Le Pen J, Paniccia G, Bauer M, Hoffmann HH, Kinast V, Moncada-Velez M, Pinharanda A, Ricardo-Lax I, Stenzel AF, Rosado-Olivieri EA, Ashbrook AW, Dinnon KH, Doyle WC, Freije CA, Hong SH, Lee D, Lewy T, Luna JM, Peace A, Schmidt C, Schneider WM, Winkler R, Larson C, McGinn T, Menezes MR, Ramos-Espiritu L, Banerjee P, Poirier JT, Sánchez-Rivera FJ, Zhang Q, Casanova JL, Carroll TS, Glickman FJ, Michailidis E, Razooky B, MacDonald MR, Rice CM.
    PLoS Biology 2024
    22(9)
    doi (opens in a new tab)
  5. 05
    PERK-mediated unfolded protein response signaling restricts replication of the tick-borne flavivirus Langat virus (opens in a new tab) Lewy TG, Offerdahl DK, Grabowski JM, Kellman E, Mlera L, Chiramel A, Bloom ME.
    Viruses 2020
    12(3):328
    doi (opens in a new tab)
  6. 06
    Oral microbiome in HIV-infected women: shifts in the abundance of pathogenic and beneficial bacteria are associated with aging, HIV load, CD4 count, and antiretroviral therapy (opens in a new tab) Lewy T, Hong BY, Weiser B, Burger H, Tremain A, Weinstock G, Anastos K, George MD.
    AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2019
    35(3):276–286
    doi (opens in a new tab)

Reviews

  1. 07
    Spatial omics technologies at multimodal and single cell/subcellular level (opens in a new tab) Park J, Kim J, Lewy T, Rice CM, Elemento O, Rendeiro AF, Mason CE.
    Genome Biology 2022
    23(1):256
    doi (opens in a new tab)
  2. 08
    BiP: master regulator of the unfolded protein response and crucial factor in flavivirus biology (opens in a new tab) Lewy TG, Grabowski JM, Bloom ME.
    Yale J Biol Med 2017
    90(2):291–300
    PMID (opens in a new tab)

General audience

  1. 09
    Misuse of antibiotics leads to antibiotic resistant bacteria (opens in a new tab) Lewy TG.
    Prized Writing 2014
    UC Davis · 25:113–119

Citation metrics and the full publication record are maintained on Google Scholar (opens in a new tab).

04Contact

Get in touch

I'm always excited to talk about viruses, neuroimmunity, AI, or science communication.

Email  ·  Google Scholar (opens in a new tab)  ·  Curriculum vitae (PDF)