Justin Rustenhoven
Justin Rustenhoven is a New Zealand neuroimmunologist and Senior Research Fellow in Pharmacology at the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research. His work has shown how immune cells stationed at the brain’s borders and within meningeal lymphatic vessels influence ageing and neurodegenerative disease. In 2021 he received a five-year Rutherford Discovery Fellowship to explore ways of restoring lymphatic drainage and cognitive function in dementia.
Education
Rustenhoven completed a BSc and BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology at the University of Auckland before earning his PhD there in 2017. His doctoral research, supervised by Professor Mike Dragunow, examined how human brain pericytes orchestrate neuro-inflammatory responses and won the Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis.
Career
After his doctorate, Rustenhoven took up post-doctoral positions in the United States: first at the Centre for Brain Immunology and Glia, University of Virginia, and then in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University in St. Louis.
His 2021 study in ‘‘Cell’’ characterised the dural venous sinuses as a specialised neuro-immune interface, revealing routes by which antigens drain from the cerebrospinal fluid to local antigen-presenting cells and lymphatics.
On returning to New Zealand in late 2021, he joined the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Auckland as a Senior Research Fellow, where he leads a laboratory studying how meningeal immunity and lymphatic dysfunction contribute to cognitive decline.
Research
Rustenhoven’s work spans cell culture, high-dimensional cytometry and in vivo imaging to map how endothelial cells, pericytes and border-associated macrophages regulate brain immunity. His laboratory is testing pharmacological and gene-therapy strategies to boost meningeal lymphatic clearance in models of Alzheimer’s disease and normal ageing.
Awards and honours
Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Best Doctoral Thesis, University of Auckland (2017)
Finalist, Eppendorf & ‘‘Science’’ Prize for Neurobiology (2021)
Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, Royal Society Te Apārangi (2021)
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