Sophie Acton

@actonlab.bsky.social

Professor of Immunology /Cancer Research UK Senior Fellow @MRC_LMCB @UCL | Lymphoid tissue biology #immunity #cancer | #SciArt | @CRUKresearch

We found that the FRC network in lymph nodes requires protrusions to follow ECM scaffolds and to link neighbouring fibroblasts. FRC use MARCKS to generate protrusions, and that PKN2 is the key kinase for these stroma Updated preprint below First round of revisions done doi.org/10.21203/rs....

PKN2 signalling induces stromal cell protrusions to preserve lymph node structural integrity

Secondary lymphoid tissues develop specialized reticular networks to facilitate immune cell communication and efficient activation of adaptive immunity. This stromal network architecture is robust, ma...

doi.org

Save the date! Keystone Stromal Immunology meeting, Feb 2-5, 2026 #KSStromal26 1. Scholarships/Short Talk Abstracts: October 7 2. Early Registration: December 3 (Save $200!) 3. Poster Abstracts: January 12, 2026 (11:59 MST) Please share! And reach out if you have any questions. Can't wait!

Flyer for Keystone meeting on Stromal immunology in health and disease, Feb 2-5th 2026.

Pleased to update this - The paper is published in Cell Reports! A long road for this one, the paper grew exponentially and evolved over a couple of years. Thanks to @makris1.bsky.social for sticking with it to untangle all the new data! @cp-cellreports.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Lymph node fibroblast phenotypes and immune crosstalk regulated by podoplanin activity

Makris et al. show that podoplanin regulates the transcription profile of lymph node fibroblasts. Podoplanin deletion drives inflammation, disrupts lymph node architecture, and attenuates stromal/immu...

cell.com

Sophie Acton@actonlab.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our latest preprint! - led by @makris1.bsky.social we find that Podoplanin expression in lymphoid tissue fibroblasts regulated their inflammatory signalling and crosstalk with immune cell populations doi.org/10.1101/2022...

single cell RNAseq data showing shifts in fibroblast phenotypes after genetic deletion of Podoplanin in lymph node stroma.