@hepworth-lab.bsky.social new paper alert. Matt and I wrote a research highlight about recent papers that describe mechanisms of ILC2-neuron crosstalk. If you're interested in reading it, check it out! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

<em>Immunology & Cell Biology</em> | ASI Journal | Wiley Online Library

Emerging roles of ILC2 in neuronal crosstalk across organs. In a series of studies published in 2025, ILC2 were shown to regulate nervous system function across a range of organs across the body. Wit...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Over the past 5+ years I've had the honor of working with @wsdewitt.github.io @victora.bsky.social and many others on a project to "replay" affinity maturation evolution from a fixed starting point. matsen.group/general/2025...

Replaying evolution to learn about the fitness landscape of affinity maturation

A five year collaboration with the Victora lab is bearing fruit for evolutionary biology.

matsen.group

My latest 'pinch yourself' moment from the Lab. We previewed two really really exciting papers from the Eisenbarth and Pabst Labs for @cp-immunity.bsky.social Read our summary here> www.cell.com/immunity/ful... A big well done to Gaby Berman in my group and authors of both excellent manuscripts!

Intestinal plasma cells get in formation

IgA plasma cells are the most abundant antibody-secreting reservoir in the body, yet details of their origin and behavior remain elusive. In this issue of Immunity, Simons et al. and Siniscalco et al....

cell.com

www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/s...

Stroke scientists gather more evidence for presence of ‘gut-brain axis’

Research on mice by scientists at The University of Manchester has shed new light on why the guts’ immune system changes after a stroke and how it might contribute to gastro-intestinal problems.Publis...

manchester.ac.uk

New paper out! @hepworth-lab.bsky.social looks at how stroke affects intestinal humoral immunity! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cerebral ischaemic stroke results in altered mucosal antibody responses and host-commensal microbiota interactions

Stroke is a devastating neurological event with a high risk of mortality that results in long-term sequalae that extend beyond the central nervous sys…

sciencedirect.com

Listening to the new Taylor Swift album & working on figures, sharing a 🤩 image for #FluorescenceFriday [penetrating 🐭 cerebral arteriole at the pial surface, aSMA in yellow = smooth muscle cell, pan-laminin in cyan = basement membrane, fibroblast in magenta...squeezing in to cover that vessel 🫂)

The outstanding Elizabeth Cooper from @gilbertsonlab.bsky.social just shared a new preprint!! Using cutting-edge tech and models, she found that brain tumours instruct cranial haematopoiesis allowing immunotolerance of childhood brain tumours and CNS development. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Childhood brain tumours instruct cranial haematopoiesis and immunotolerance

Recent research has revealed a remarkable role for immunosurveillance in healthy and diseased brains, dispelling the notion that this organ is a passive immune-privileged site[1][1]–[3][2]. Better und...

biorxiv.org

Happy to see this published over 10 years after working on it! It was a fun project back in my undergrad days in NY. Using 2D NMR we provide the first direct evidence that fireflies utilise dietary cholesterol to generate lucibufagins, their chemical defense system. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

The Source of Firefly Chemical Defenses: Endogenous Biosynthesis of Lucibufagins from Cholesterol

Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are beetles in the family Lampyridae. Several species of North American fireflies have been investigated to determine their toxic components. The primary molec...

pubs.acs.org

We have a new Postdoc position advertised as part of our recent long-term Wellcome funding to join an established Postdoc and technician. I’m so excited to explore the role of the glycocalyx in CNS-inflammation. So many tools and expertise to work with! www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Science isn’t really moving towards equity; institutions are just perfecting the appearance of equity. We need to build an alternative system, says Dolors Armenteras go.nature.com/4nzGhp9

Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending

Science isn’t really moving towards equity; institutions are just perfecting the appearance of equity. We need to build an alternative system.

go.nature.com

New paper alert! 🎉 Check it out here: biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Here we show that intestinal bacterial, helminth and fungal challenges polarise CD4 T cell populations in the dural meninges.

Intestinal challenges shape the polarisation of protective dural memory CD4 T cells

The meninges house several innate and adaptive immune cell populations[1][1]–[3][2]. These predominantly localise within the dura mater and include gut-derived IgA-secreting plasma cells[4][3]. Whethe...

biorxiv.org

Just back from Basel after an inspiring week at the EMBO Tissue Immunity workshop 🧠🫁🧑‍🦲. I loved giving a flash talk and hearing so many exciting ideas on barrier immunity. Huge thanks to @hepworth-lab.bsky.social for supporting my participation!

Please sign this Parliamentary petition calling for comprehensive trade sanctions on Israel - the limited sanctions on specific members of the Israeli Government by the UK do not go far enough: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/72...

Petition: Review all trade ties with Israel, suspend 2030 roadmap & impose trade sanctions

We call on the Government to review existing trade ties with Israel, suspend the 2030 Roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relations and impose trade sanctions upon Israel.

petition.parliament.uk

Spread the news! We are excited to expand our research team, working on cellular senescence, at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge. jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/52026/ jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/52027/

a yellow sign that says we 're hiring

ALT: a yellow sign that says we 're hiring

media.tenor.com

Fenestrated endothelium enables the extravasation of immune complexes into the synovium. There the interaction of macrophages (producing IL1b, CXCL1) and nociceptive neurons (producing CGRP) induce pain and inflammation. Hasegawa &al 2024 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #RheumSky 🧪⑂

New paper from Virginia Pedicord's lab just dropped! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Gut microbiota-derived hexa-acylated lipopolysaccharides enhance cancer immunotherapy responses - Nature Microbiology

Hexa-acylated lipopolysaccharides from the gut microbiota are associated with efficacy in patients with cancer receiving anti-PD-1 and stimulate host immune activation for enhanced anti-tumour immunit...

nature.com

The pre-proof version of our new review is online now at @mucosalimmunol.bsky.social. @lukeocyte.bsky.social and Alanna Kelly (not on Bluesky) deep dive into ILC niches, and discuss how cellular interactions, nutrients and ECM shape our innate immune system! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

There’s no place like home: How local tissue microenvironments shape the function of innate lymphoid cells

Innate lymphoid cells (ILC) have emerged as critical immune effectors with key roles in orchestrating the wider immune response. While ILC are relativ…

sciencedirect.com

A #Science #Immunology Instant Release: @mmr2.bsky.social, Diane Mathis, & colleagues at @harvard.edu & @institutocajal.bsky.social describe specialized meningeal #Treg subsets that promote #homeostasis of the mouse #brain #meninges & #parenchyma!

The meninges host a distinct compartment of regulatory T cells that preserves brain homeostasis

Meningeal regulatory T cells restrain local interferon-γ–producing lymphocytes, thereby safeguarding parenchymal brain homeostasis.

science.org

PhDone!!! So happy that I PASSED my viva! Major thx to outstanding examiners @juanquintana.bsky.social and @immunoah.bsky.social for giving me a run for my money 🥳. The biggest thx is to the people below, who made it all possible 😘. @mrclmb.bsky.social @caiuscollege.bsky.social Ready for postdoc!

I've always been passionate about outreach and social justice, especially when in science. I wrote this article @nature.com to inspire others to generate similar initiatives. nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03562-4 I'll be sharing a new large-scale programme I'm launching soon. Stay tuned!

How I’m creating career opportunities for researchers back home in Mexico

David Posner hopes that his teaching and outreach programmes could apply to other low- and middle-income countries.

nature.com

Please join us for our January #GDTcellClub #gdTcells webinar with talks by Drs. Pedro Papotto and Victoria Stary. Jan 16 @ 12pm (New York) | 5pm (London) nyulangone.zoom.us/j/9589051706... Zoom ID: 958 9051 7066 Passcode: 369081 @payalyokota.bsky.social @ph-papotto.bsky.social

Exciting new pre print out now from @ph-papotto.bsky.social and @profjudiallen.bsky.social... Bluesky-orial below!

Pedro Papotto@ph-papotto.bsky.social · 2y ago

What a great way to start this account and end the week: our preprint describing how dermal γδ T cells mediate a skin-lung axis during parasite infection in mice is online! I'm excited to show the findings of my main postdoc project with @profjudiallen.bsky.social!🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

My first week in my new job is done! Let's see what's next 😎

I'm so excited to announce that I've joined the @hepworth-lab.bsky.social in Manchester for my postdoc! So pumped to finally be here and ready to get some science done 🤩💪 @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social