Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
The Hickey Lab sits at the interface of engineering and immunology, using and developing systems immunology tools to investigate tissue structure in situ. We also use multiplexed imaging and computational techniques to characterize spatial cellular responses related to the effectiveness of anti-cancer cell or biomaterial therapies. John has received a number of awards for his work, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, ARCS Scholar, Siebel Scholar, NCI Postdoctoral Fellowship, and American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
- Assistant Professor in Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
- Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Contact Information
- Email Address: john.hickey@duke.edu
- Websites:
Education
- Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, 2019
Research Interests
Using and developing systems biology tools and technologies to describe and control spatial relationships between cells in tissues, particularly in cell therapies.
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship. American Cancer Society. 2020
Courses Taught
- EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
- BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
- BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
- BME 590: Special Topics in Biomedical Engineering
- BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
- BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
- BME 394: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
- BME 260L: Modeling Cellular and Molecular Systems
In the News
- Genomic Medicine, Beyond CRISPR (Nov 8, 2024)
- John Hickey: When It Comes to Studying Cells, Location is Everything (Aug 21, 2…
- It’s a beautiful day in the intestinal neighborhood (Jul 19, 2023)
Representative Publications
- Meyerhoff, R Ryan, Alan Chen, Jenny O’Brien, Carmen M. Anadon, Luis Uriel Lopez Bailon, Dayan Carrion-Estrada, Koravit Poysungnoen, et al. “Tumor-infiltrating plasma cell profiling after PD-1 blockade reveals tumor-specific antibodies.” Cancer Cell, July 27, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2026.07.001.
- Bueckle, Andreas, Chenchen Zhu, Alex Y. H. Wong, Archibald Enninful, Yang Miao, Negin Farzad, Maria Pedersen, et al. “Multiscale harmonization and semantic integration of biomedical data enable biological insights through immersive exploration.” BioRxiv, July 11, 2026. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.07.737090.
- Matusiak, Magdalena, John W. Hickey, David G. P. van IJzendoorn, Guolan Lu, Lukasz Kidziński, Shirley Zhu, Deana R. C. Colburg, et al. “Figure S5 from Spatially Segregated Macrophage Populations Predict Distinct Outcomes in Colon Cancer,” June 17, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.32698404.
- Matusiak, Magdalena, John W. Hickey, David G. P. van IJzendoorn, Guolan Lu, Lukasz Kidziński, Shirley Zhu, Deana R. C. Colburg, et al. “Figure S3 from Spatially Segregated Macrophage Populations Predict Distinct Outcomes in Colon Cancer,” June 17, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.32698410.
- Matusiak, Magdalena, John W. Hickey, David G. P. van IJzendoorn, Guolan Lu, Lukasz Kidziński, Shirley Zhu, Deana R. C. Colburg, et al. “Table S2 from Spatially Segregated Macrophage Populations Predict Distinct Outcomes in Colon Cancer,” June 17, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.32698377.