Education

• 1995 MD Hubei University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China 
• 2002 MS Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji Medical College, China
• 2006 PhD Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji Medical College, China

Training

• 2007-2011 Post-doctoral Fellowship, Department of Neurosciences, University of Toledo
• 2011-2013 Post-doctoral Fellowship, Department of Biochemistry & Cancer Biology, University of Toledo
• 2013-2017 Post-doctoral Fellowship, Department of Gynecology& Obstetrics, Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University 

Dr. Jun Lei is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She has a diverse educational background, with undergraduate and MD degrees from the Hubei University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, and MS and PhD degrees from the Huazhong University of Sciences and Technology, Tongji Medical College in China.

Dr. Lei has extensive post-doctoral experience from her fellowships at the University of Toledo and Johns Hopkins University, where she transitioned to a tenure-track faculty position. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Society for Reproductive Investigation and the American Society for Reproductive Immunology.

Dr. Lei has received several awards for her research, including the Dr. John Gusdon Memorial New Investigator Award for Basic Science from the American Society for Reproductive Immunology, NIH Young Investigator Award, and President’s Presenter’s Award from the Society for Reproductive Investigation. She has also authored many peer-reviewed research publications, with a focus on the diagnosis, mechanisms, and therapeutic treatments of maternal infection/inflammation-associatd adverse fetal outcomes.

Maternal inflammation, maternal infection, placental immunology, fetal brain injury

Lei J, Firdaus W, Rosenzweig JM, Alrebh S, Bakhshwin A, Borbiev T, Fatemi A, Blakemore K, Johnston MV, Burd I. Murine model: maternal administration of stem cells for prevention of prematurity. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2015 May;212(5):639.e1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2014.12.032. Epub 2014 Dec 30. 

Vermillion M, Lei J, Shabi Y, Baxter V, Crilly N, McLane M, Griffin D, Pekosz A, Klein SL, Burd I. Intrauterine Zika virus infection of pregnant immunocompetent mice models transplacental transmission and adverse perinatal outcomes. Nat Commun 2017 Feb 21;8:14575.

Lei J, Xie L, Zhao H, Gard C, Clemens JL, McLane MW, Feller MC, Ozen M, Novak C, Alshehri W, Alhejaily N, Shabi Y, Rosenzweig JM, Facciabene A, Burd I. Maternal CD8+ T-cell depletion alleviates intrauterine inflammation-induced perinatal brain injury. Am J Reprod Immunol. 2017 Dec 4.

Lei J, Vermillion MS, Jia B, Xie H, Xie L, McLane MW, Sheffield JS, Pekosz A, Brown A, Klein SL, Burd I. IL-1 receptor antagonist therapy mitigates placental dysfunction and perinatal injury following Zika virus infection. JCI Insight. 2019 Feb 28;4(7). 

Sherer ML, Lei J, Creisher P, Jang M, Reddy R, Voegtline K, Olson S, Littlefield K, Park HS, Ursin RL, Ganesan A, Boyer T, Brown DM, Walch SN, Antar AAR, Manabe YC, Jones-Beatty K, Golden WC, Satin AJ, Sheffield JS, Pekosz A, Klein SL, Burd I. Dysregulated immunity in SARS-CoV-2 infected pregnant women. 2020 Nov 16. 

Liu Y, Liu J, Liu A, Yin H, Burd I, Lei J. Maternal siRNA silencing of placental SAA2 mitigates preterm birth following intrauterine inflammation. Front Immunology. 2022 Sep 23;13:902096. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.902096. eCollection 2022.