Faculty Bio

Dr. Lacy, originally from Rustburg, Virginia, began his education at the University of Virginia where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology and shortly thereafter obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Science at Virginia Commonwealth University. Following his master’s education, Michael moved abroad to Munich, Germany, where he finished his doctoral studies investigating adaptive immune responses during atherosclerotic lesion development in cardiovascular disease at the Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention at Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich.

Research Interests

Co-stimulatory and epigenetic mechanisms influencing the pro- and anti-atherogenic balance of T cell subsets under atherosclerotic conditions using transgenic mouse models.

Lab Opportunities:

Currently no openings, but interested students are always welcome. Feel free to email your CV.

Recent Publications

• Lacy, M., Bürger, C., Shami, A. et al. Cell-specific and divergent roles of the CD40L-CD40 axis in atherosclerotic vascular disease. Nat Commun 12, 3754 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23909-z
• Annelie Shami, Dorothee Atzler, Laura A Bosmans, Holger Winkels, Svenja Meiler, Michael Lacy, Claudia van Tiel, Remco Ta Megens, Katrin Nitz, Jeroen Baardman, Pascal Kusters, Tom Seijkens, Christina Buerger, Aleksandar Janjic, Carlo Riccardi, Andreas Edsfeldt, Claudia Monaco, Mat Daemen, Menno P J de Winther, Jan Nilsson, Christian Weber, Norbert Gerdes, Isabel Gonçalves, Esther Lutgens, Glucocorticoid-induced tumour necrosis factor receptor family-related protein (GITR) drives atherosclerosis in mice and is associated with an unstable plaque phenotype and cerebrovascular events in humans, European Heart Journal, Volume 41, Issue 31, 14 August 2020, Pages 2938–2948, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa484
• Lacy, M., Kontos, C., Brandhofer, M. et al. Identification of an Arg-Leu-Arg tripeptide that contributes to the binding interface between the cytokine MIF and the chemokine receptor CXCR4. Sci Rep 8, 5171 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23554-5