By DoM Communications | Date published: August 13, 2026

Jafira Johnson Awarded F31 to Study How Tonic Interferon Signaling Supports Antiviral Defense in Skin 

Jafira Johnson, a graduate student in the lab of Megan Orzalli, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, was awarded an F31 to study how tonic interferon (IFN) signaling supports antiviral defense in the skin. 

 Previous data from Jafira’s laboratory indicate that fibroblasts cultured with keratinocytes in a human skin organoid model (HSE) exhibit greater resistance to HSV-1 infection compared to fibroblasts cultured in a dermal equivalent organoid model lacking keratinocytes. Further analysis revealed that fibroblasts from an HSE organoid display an elevated interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) signature, suggesting that a keratinocyte-derived cytokine signals within HSE fibroblasts promote an antiviral response. 

Jafira has since determined that the restriction of HSV-1 in HSE fibroblasts depends on epithelial keratinocyte expression of the interferon cytokine interferon-kappa (IFN-κ). Additionally, this restriction requires the expression of the type-I interferon receptor (IFNAR1) in HSE fibroblasts but is independent of downstream components of type-I interferon signaling (STAT1, STAT2, IRF9, JAK, and TYK2), indicating that a non-canonical interferon signaling pathway mediates HSV-1 restriction in organoid fibroblasts.