Overview
The Hickey Lab sits at the interface of engineering and immunology, using and developing systems immunology tools to investigate tissue structure in situ. We also use multiplexed imaging and computational techniques to characterize spatial cellular responses related to the effectiveness of anti-cancer cell or biomaterial therapies. John has received a number of awards for his work, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, ARCS Scholar, Siebel Scholar, NCI Postdoctoral Fellowship, and American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
·
2024 - Present
Biomedical Engineering,
Pratt School of Engineering
Assistant Professor in Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
·
2024 - Present
Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Division of Integrative Genomics,
Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
·
2024 - Present
Duke Cancer Institute,
Institutes and Centers
Recent Publications
Alterations of the composition and spatial organization of the microenvironment following non-dysplastic Barrett's esophagus through progression to cancer
Preprint · June 12, 2025 Full text CiteSpatially organized inflammatory myeloid-CD8 + T cell aggregates linked to Merkel-cell Polyomavirus driven Reorganization of the Tumor Microenvironment.
Journal Article bioRxiv · June 6, 2025 Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer with high propensity for metastasis, caused by Merkel-cell-polyomavirus (MCPyV), or chronic UV-light-exposure. How MCPyV spatially modulates immune responses within the tumor microenvironment and how ... Full text Link to item CiteHuman BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP): 3D Human Reference Atlas construction and usage.
Journal Article Nat Methods · April 2025 The Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) aims to construct a 3D Human Reference Atlas (HRA) of the healthy adult body. Experts from 20+ consortia collaborate to develop a Common Coordinate Framework (CCF), knowledge graphs and tools that describe the ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Multiscale Modeling of Influenza Neutralizing Antibody and Fc Effector Biology
ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 2024 - 2029Flexible Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure for Seamless Integration and Use of Human Biomolecular Data and Reference Maps [1 of 5]
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Carnegie Mellon University · 2024 - 2025View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine ·
2019
Ph.D.