Kevin J. Tracey

Tracey was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on 10 December 1957. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Boston College in 1979 and his M.D. from Boston University in 1983. From 1983 to 1992 he trained in neurosurgery at the New York Hospital/Cornell University{{cite web |url=http://www.cornellneurosurgery.org/education/alu.html |title=Cornell Neurological Surgery Alumni|date=23 January 2013}} with Russel Patterson. During this time he was also a guest investigator at Rockefeller University.{{cite journal |url=https://www.kidneynews.org/view/journals/kidney-news/8/10/11/article-p31_21.xml|date=October 2016 |title=Lecturer Will Discuss Replacing Drugs with Electronic Devices |journal=Kidney News |volume=8 |issue=10/11 |pages=31 }}

In 1992, Tracey moved to Northwell Health,{{cite web |url=http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/winter_2016/features/the-generator.html |title=The Generator by Emily Anthes}} in Manhasset, New York, where he practiced neurosurgery and established the Laboratory of Biomedical Science (now the Center for Biomedical Science). In 2005 he was appointed president and CEO of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and professor at and president of the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine (Manhasset, New York).

Tracey studies inflammation; he turned to immunological research and inflammation after training as a neurosurgeon, due to his puzzlement over what happened to an 11-month-old girl in his care who died of sepsis.{{cite news |last1=Carlson |first1=Emily |title=Up Close With: Kevin Tracey |url=https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/findings/Documents/FindingsMagazine-2010September.pdf#page=14 |work=Findings |publisher=Office of Communications and Public Liaison National Institute of General Medical Sciences |date=September 2010 |pages=9–16}} Training as both a neurosurgeon and immunologist merged in discovery of the mechanism by which neurons control the immune system.{{Cite journal |pmc = 4535331|year = 2009|last1 = Tracey|first1 = K. J.|title = Reflex control of immunity|journal = Nature Reviews. Immunology|volume = 9|issue = 6|pages = 418–428|pmid = 19461672|doi = 10.1038/nri2566}}

In the early 1980s, Tracey and colleagues described the inflammatory activity of TNF and other cytokines as a cytokine capable of causing shock and tissue injury.{{cite journal |last1=Tracey |first1=Kevin |title=Shock and tissue injury induced by recombinant human cachectin |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.3764421 |journal=Science |date=24 October 1986 |volume=234 |issue=4775 |pages=470–474 |doi=10.1126/science.3764421 |pmid=3764421 |bibcode=1986Sci...234..470T |access-date=9 June 2021}} Because excessive TNF production damages tissues in the body, it was the basis for the discovery and development of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. A subsequently expanding field of research confirmed that TNF is a mediator of septic shock, but not sepsis. This prompted Tracey to search for other mediators of sepsis, culminating in 1999 by discovering high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a protein previously known as a DNA-binding transcription factor, is an inflammatory mediator.{{cite journal |last1=Jong |first1=Roh |last2=Dong |first2=Sohn |title=Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns in Inflammatory Diseases |journal=Immune Network |date=13 August 2018 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=e27 |doi=10.4110/in.2018.18.e27 |pmid=30181915 |pmc=6117512 }} The discovery of HMGB1 as a damaged associated molecular pattern (DAMP) offered a mechanism for how sterile injury, which causes HMGB1 release, causes inflammation even in the absence of infection.

In the 1990s, an unexpected result in the Tracey lab led to a discovery of how the brain normally inhibits the production of TNF. They had developed an anti-inflammatory named CNI-1493, or semapimod. Unexpectedly, the CNI-1493 stimulated the vagus nerve to inhibit TNF production in the body. This discovery that the vagus nerve controls the immune system led him to study the effects of stimulating the vagus nerve with electrodes to alleviate inflammation, called "the inflammatory reflex".{{cite journal |last1=Fox |first1=D |title=The shock tactics set to shake up immunology. |journal=Nature |date=3 May 2017 |volume=545 |issue=7652 |pages=20–22 |doi=10.1038/545020a |pmid=28470211|bibcode=2017Natur.545...20F |s2cid=4385501 |doi-access=free }} {{open access}}{{cite news |last1=Behar |first1=Michael |title=Can the Nervous System Be Hacked? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/magazine/can-the-nervous-system-be-hacked.html |work=The New York Times |date=23 May 2014}}{{cite news |last1=Finley |first1=Allysia |title=Electricity Is the New Medical Miracle |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/electricity-is-the-new-medical-miracle-crohn-vagus-nerve-biotech-startup-trial-remission-treatment-11658512502 |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=22 July 2022 |access-date=25 August 2022}}

In 2007 he co-founded SetPoint Medical Inc which aimed to develop vagus nerve stimulation devices to treat autoimmune diseases.{{cite news|last1=Garde|first1=Damien|title=SetPoint Medical – 2013 Fierce 15|url=https://www.fiercebiotech.com/special-report/setpoint-medical-2013-fierce-15|work=FierceBiotech|date=2013|language=en}} The company started clinical trials in 2011, and in 2016 published results for treating patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Vagus nerve stimulation has successfully blocked inflammation in clinical trials of rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.{{cite web |last1=Waltz |first1=Emily |title=Battling Crohn's Disease with Vagus Nerve Stimulation |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/vagus-nerve-stimulation-takes-on-crohns-disease |website=Spectrum IEEE |date=14 June 2018 |access-date=23 February 2021}}

The Tracey lab mapped the inflammatory reflex using genetic, immunological, and bioelectronic tools to define the molecular and neuroscience mechanisms. An unexpected finding from this work is the vagus nerve, a parasympathetic nerve, controls the splenic nerve, a sympathetic nerve. Additionally in 2011, Tracey and colleagues discovered a memory T cell subset that secretes acetylcholine in the spleen when activated by signals arising in the vagus nerve, named "T ChAt" cells.Rosas-Ballina, M., et al. "Acetylcholine-Synthesizing T Cells Relay Neural Signals in a Vagus Nerve Circuit". Science, vol. 334, no. 6052, 2011, pp. 98–101., doi:10.1126/science.1209985. These regulatory T cells produce acetylcholine, the chemical signal to macrophages which turns off production of TNF and other inflammatory mediators.

In May 2018, Tracey's team was first to decode specific signals that the nervous system uses to communicate immune status and alert the brain to inflammation. Identifying these neural signals and what they're communicating about the body's health provides insight into diagnostic and therapeutic targets, and device development.{{cite news |last1=Holme |first1=Frida |title=Scientists Wants to Decode Body-Brain Nerve Signals to Diagnose Illness|url=http://www.frontlinegenomics.com/news/22726/scientists-are-bound-on-decoding-body-brain-nerve-signals-to-diagnose-illness/|work=Frontline Genomics |date=May 2018}} In February 2019, Tracey along with a team led by Tak Mak, PhD, and Maureen Cox, PhD, reported that T ChAt regulate the development of immunity during virus infections.{{cite news |last1=Zeller |first1=Gregory |title=Tracey, Global Team Unearth New Bioelectronic Clue|url=http://www.innovateli.com/tracey-global-team-unearth-new-bioelectronic-clue/|work=InnovateLI |date=February 2019}}

In November 2020, they reported that neurons in the brainstem dorsal motor nucleus (DMN) of the vagus nerve transmit signals to the celiac-superior mesenteric ganglia in the abdomen. This experiment combined optogenetics, anatomical and functional mapping, and measurement of TNF production to show for the first time that parasympathetic vagus neurons control sympathetic splenic neurons, because the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems were believed to be independent.{{cite web |title=Researchers Discover Possible Pathway of Vagus Nerve's Inflammatory Response |url=https://www.painmedicinenews.com/Online-First/Article/11-20/Researchers-Discover-Possible-Pathway-of-Vagus-Nerve-s-Inflammatory-Response/61148 |website=Pain Medicine News |access-date=9 June 2021}}

• Hans Wigzell Research Foundation's Science Prize, [https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231102553265/en/Feinstein-Institutes%E2%80%99-Dr.-Kevin-J.-Tracey-receives-2023-Hans-Wigzell-Research-Foundations-Science-Prize 2023]
• Crain's Business New York "Most Notable Leaders in Healthcare, [https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/kevin-j-tracey-notable-leaders-health-care-2023 2023]
• Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2020{{cite web |title=AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2020 |url=https://aimbe.org/college-of-fellows/cof-5126/ |website=AIMBE |publisher=American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering |access-date=14 July 2022}}
• Harvey Lecture Series, [http://www.harveysociety.org/lectures/ Harvey Society], 2018{{cite web|url=http://www.harveysociety.org/lectures/?series=113 |title=The Harvey Society: Lecture Series |publisher=The Harvey Society|access-date=6 February 2019}}
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2015
• Grenvik lectureship, University of Pittsburgh, 2013{{cite web |url=https://www.ccm.pitt.edu/grenvik-lecture |title=Grenvik lectureship}}
• Member, [https://aap-online.org/ Association of American Physicians], 2009{{cite web|url=https://aap-online.org/ |title=The Association of American Physicians |publisher=The Association of American Physicians|access-date=12 February 2019}}
• Nancy Bucher lecture, Boston University School of Medicine, 2009{{cite web|url=https://www.bumc.bu.edu/busm-pathology/home/seminar-list/the-nancy-l-r-bucher-seminar-series/ |title=The Nancy L. R. Bucher Seminar Series |publisher=Boston University School of Medicine|access-date=12 February 2019}}
• Honorary doctorate from the Karolinska Institute, 2009{{cite web|author=Maria Sjögren |url=http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=3319&a=83880&l=en |title=Honorary doctors at Karolinska Institutet 2009 – Prizes and Awards – Karolinska Institutet |publisher=Ki.se |access-date=7 February 2013}}
• Highly Cited Researcher in Immunology.{{cite web |url=http://isihighlycited.com |title=ISI Highly Cited Researchers}}
• DeWitt Stetten Jr. lectureship, National Institute of Health, 2007{{cite web |title=2007 Stetten Lecture – Physiology and Immunology of the Cholinergic Anti-inflammatory Pathway |url=https://www.nigms.nih.gov/News/meetings/pages/Stetten_2007.aspx |website=NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences |access-date=8 February 2019}}
• Member, [https://www.the-asci.org/ American Society of Clinical Investigation], 2001{{cite web|url=https://www.the-asci.org/controllers/asci/AsciProfileController.php?pid=500224 |title=Member Directory |publisher=The American Society of Clinical Investigation|access-date=12 February 2019}}
• Recognized as one of the most cited researchers, listed among the top 1,000 worldwide, PLOS Biology, [https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ The Public Library of Science Magazine]{{cite book|chapter-url=https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/1 |title=Supplementary data tables for "A standardized citation metrics author database annotated for scientific field" (PLoS Biology 2019) |year=2019 |publisher=Mendeley|doi=10.17632/btchxktzyw.1 |access-date=29 September 2019|last1=Baas |first1=Jeroen |last2=Klavans |first2=Richard |last3=Boyack |first3=Kevin |last4=Ioannidis |first4=John P. A. |chapter=Bibliometrics |volume=1 }}

{{Incomplete list|date=March 2022}}

• {{Cite book |last=Tracey |first=K. J. |year=2005 |title=Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within |location=New York |publisher=Dana Press |isbn=978-1932594065}}
• Editor-in-chief, [https://bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/ Bioelectronic Medicine]{{cite web|url=https://bioelecmed.biomedcentral.com/ |title=Bioelectronic Medicine|publisher=Springer Nature|access-date=6 February 2019}}
• Advisory Editor, [http://jem.rupress.org/ Journal of Experimental Medicine]{{cite web|url=http://jem.rupress.org/content/editors-and-staff |title=Journal of Experimental Medicine|publisher=Rockefeller University Press|access-date=6 February 2019}}
• Contributing Editor, [https://molmed.biomedcentral.com/ Molecular Medicine]{{cite web|url=https://molmed.biomedcentral.com/about/editorial-board|title=Molecular Medicine Editorial Board|publisher=Springer Nature|access-date=6 February 2019}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://feinstein.northwell.edu/institutes-researchers/our-researchers/kevin-j-tracey-md}}

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Category:1957 births

Category:Living people

Category:American immunologists

Category:American neurosurgeons

Category:Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni

Category:Boston University School of Medicine alumni