top of page

TEAM MEMBERS

A Collaborative & Diverse Group

The team members at EYO LAB are made up of experienced and dedicated researchers from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds. What unites them is an undying passion for learning and discovery. Meet them below.

Eyos photo_edited.jpg

UKPONG EYO, PH.D
(ube9q@virginia.edu)

Principal Investigator

Eyo (pronounced “A”-“Yo”) was born in Nigeria and grew up in several different countries. He immigrated to the US in 2003 to pursue undergraduate studies at Northwest Missouri State University. He then went on to graduate school at the University of Iowa where he developed a keen interest in real-time imaging of microglia during development under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Dailey. During his time in the Dailey Lab, Eyo reported remarkable migratory capacities for neonatal microglia and elucidated purinergic mechanisms in microglial demise under simulated ischemic conditions. Following his Ph.D studies, Eyo joined the lab of Dr. Long-Jun Wu, first at Rutgers University in New Jersey, then at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to study microglial-neuronal communications. His postdoctoral research in the Wu Lab uncovered novel physical interaction phenomena between microglia and neurons including microglial process extensions (Eyo et al., 2014), microglial process convergence (Eyo et al., 2015; Eyo et al., 2017) and microglial process pouches (Eyo et. al., 2021). Moreover, he showed that microglial neuronal communication was beneficial following experimentally-induced seizures. Through these studies, Dr. Eyo became interested in microglial P2RY12 receptors which he continues to study. In August 2018. Since then, Eyo started his independent lab in the Department of Neuroscience and the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG) to continue his research on microglia in (i) neural injury (especially seizure disorders); (ii) neurovascular interactions and function and (iii) sex differences. Away from the lab, Eyo enjoys time with his blessed family including his wife, two sons, and two daughters.

bottom of page