Megan Levings, PhD
University of British Columbia
Dr. Megan Levings is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute.
Dr. Levings started her career through summer research projects with Dr. James Price, who was studying signalling pathways in drosophila. This experience sparked her interest in genetics and she subsequently pursued graduate training with Dr. John Schrader, in the genetics program at the University of British Columbia. Here she studied cytokine receptors and signalling pathways. After obtaining her PhD in 1998, she joined Dr. Maria Grazia Roncarolo's lab in Milan, undertaking postdoctoral training in the area of immune regulation. During this time, she conducted pioneering work to define what we now know as regulatory T cells (Tregs), and showed their potential to be isolated and expanded for use as cellular therapy to stop harmful immune responses. Dr. Levings was recruited back to UBC in 2003, joining the Department of Surgery as a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Transplantation. Her lab has continued to advance research into Tregs, most recently using gene editing to re-direct cell specificity and enhance their function. Dr. Levings is also a leader in human immunology more generally, with work to define and optimize biomarkers in autoimmunity leading to mechanistic insight into disease pathogenesis and response to therapy. Dr. Levings is currently President Elect of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies and has won numerous awards, including the 2020 YWCA Woman of Distinction, Science, Research & Technology, 2022 Simon Fraser University Outstanding Alumni award, 2022 UBC Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Researcher in the Basic/Foundational Science Category, and the 2025 Canadian Society for Immunology Cinader Award.
Dr. Levings started her career through summer research projects with Dr. James Price, who was studying signalling pathways in drosophila. This experience sparked her interest in genetics and she subsequently pursued graduate training with Dr. John Schrader, in the genetics program at the University of British Columbia. Here she studied cytokine receptors and signalling pathways. After obtaining her PhD in 1998, she joined Dr. Maria Grazia Roncarolo's lab in Milan, undertaking postdoctoral training in the area of immune regulation. During this time, she conducted pioneering work to define what we now know as regulatory T cells (Tregs), and showed their potential to be isolated and expanded for use as cellular therapy to stop harmful immune responses. Dr. Levings was recruited back to UBC in 2003, joining the Department of Surgery as a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Transplantation. Her lab has continued to advance research into Tregs, most recently using gene editing to re-direct cell specificity and enhance their function. Dr. Levings is also a leader in human immunology more generally, with work to define and optimize biomarkers in autoimmunity leading to mechanistic insight into disease pathogenesis and response to therapy. Dr. Levings is currently President Elect of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies and has won numerous awards, including the 2020 YWCA Woman of Distinction, Science, Research & Technology, 2022 Simon Fraser University Outstanding Alumni award, 2022 UBC Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Researcher in the Basic/Foundational Science Category, and the 2025 Canadian Society for Immunology Cinader Award.
