Ray Ohara

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Kenneth M. Murphy, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 2015

Enrollment year: 2018

Research summary
Understanding the function and molecular interactions of WDFY4 in cDC1 cross-presentation.

Graduate publications
Jo S, Ohara RA, Theisen DJ, Kim S, Liu T, Bullock CB, He M, Ou F, Chen J, Piersma SJ, Postoak JL, Yokoyama WM, Diamond MS, Murphy TL, Murphy KM. 2025 Shared pathway of WDFY4-dependent cross-presentation of immune complexes by cDC1 and cDC2. J Exp Med, 222(4):e20240955. PMCID: PMC11804880

Chen J, Liu TT, Ou F, Ohara RA, Jo S, Postoak JL, Egawa T, Day RB, Murphy TL, Murphy KM, Kim S. 2025 C/EBPα activates Irf8 expression in myeloid progenitors at the +56-kb enhancer to initiate cDC1 development. Sci Immunol, 10(107):readt5899. PMCID:

Bullock CB, Wang L, Ware BC, Wagoner N, Ohara RA, Liu T-T, Desai P, Peters B, Murphy KM, Handley SA, Morrison TE, Diamond MS.. 2024 Type I interferon signaling in dendritic cells limits direct antigen presentation and CD8+ T cell responses against an arthritogenic alphavirus. mBio, 15(12):e0293024. PMCID: PMC11633147

Ou F, Liu TT, Desai P, Ferris ST, Kim S, Shen H, Ohara RA, Jo S, Chen J, Postoak JL, Du S, Diamond MS, Murphy TL, Murphy KM. 2024 Optimization of the Irf8 +32-kb enhancer disrupts dendritic cell lineage segregation. Nat Immunol, 25(11):2043-56. PMCID:

Ferris ST, Liu T, Chen J, Ohara RA, Ou F, Wu R, Kim S, Murphy TL, Murphy KM. 2023 WDFY4 deficiency in NOD mice ameliorates autoimmune diabetes and insulitis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 120(13):e2219956120. PMCID: PMC10068798

Kim S, Chen J, Jo S, Ou F, Ferris ST, Liu TT, Ohara RA, Anderson DA, Wu R, Chen MY, Gillanders WE, Gillanders WE, Murphy TL, Murphy KM. 2023 IL-6 selectively suppresses cDC1 specification via C/EBPβ. J Exp Med, 220(10):e20221757. PMCID: PMC10336151

Ferris ST, Ohara RA, Ou F, Wu R, Huang X, Kim S, Chen J, Liu TT, Schreiber RD, Murphy TL, Murphy KM. 2022 cDC1 vaccines drive tumor rejection by direct presentation independently of host cDC1. Cancer Immunol Res, 10(8):920-931

Kim S, Bagadia P, Anderson DA 3rd, Liu TT, Huang X, Theisen DJ, O’Connor KW, Ohara RA, Iwata A, Murphy TL, Murphy KM. 2020 High Amount of Transcription Factor IRF8 Engages AP1-IRF Composite Elements in Enhancers to Direct Type 1 Conventional Dendritic Cell Identity. Immunity, 59(4):759-774.e9. PMCID: