It’s been a great week for the GommerLab. Today I am proud of Dr. Albert Nguyen who as a student then a postdoc saw this work to the finish line. Also grateful to Dr. Chrys Brown (MSKCC) - Working together we learned new things about cDC2 biology. Yay team science!

Sequential lymphotoxin-β receptor and retinoic acid receptor signals regulate cDC2 fate - Nature Immunology

Nguyen et al. show that the splenic environment provides sequential signals via lymphotoxin and retinoic acid that guide cDC2A development and retention.

nature.com

Proud to share our work now out in Cell. We hope what we learned about IgA immune responses to rotavirus can be translated into better vaccines. Congratulations Dr. Kei Haniuda, an amazing PDF. TY @uoftmedicine.bsky.social for covering. temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/news

Florescu et al. reveal that dynamic changes in the brain, leptomeninges, and dural B cells are associated with age-dependent disease severity in an animal model of progressive #MultipleSclerosis. rupress.org/jem/article/... @jengommerman.bsky.social

Big day for Toronto! And I'm not talking about the Jays. Voila our shiny new 7T MRI funded by CFI/ORF. This infrastructure will support interdisciplinary brain science research across the city. Inter-institute collaboration works! @uoftmedicine.bsky.social

So grateful to be part of this important study. Cross-country method validation is a fun way to collaborate and key for establishing reproducible methods to measure mucosal antibodies.

Comparing methods collecting mucosal secretions and detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike IgA in three laboratories across three countries

Mucosal IgA is key in preventing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. Several mucosal vaccines are in development,…

sciencedirect.com

A fantastic 2-day retreat at Blue Mountain with @immunologyuoft.bsky.social . Big thanks to Dr. Carla Rotlin for serving as our keynote, to our student reps Maye and Boyd andr administrative staff (especially Vaish) for their hard work, and to our community for showing up and being kind!

So pleased to see this published rupress.org/jem/article-... and look at what came out in the NYT crossword on the exact same day! Congrats Alex Florescu, Michelle Zuo and Angela Wang - the triple threat (former) PhD students who teamed up to make this happen. @rupress.org

What's better than being introduced by a former trainee to give a talk? Being introduced by a former trainee (the amazing Dr. Natalia Pikor from ETH Zurich) sporting baby #2, the beautiful Elizabeth. #womeninscience

Mom has had a bit of attention over the last few days. Which is great, because women born in 1943 have been pretty overlooked. I liked this one the best: www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Back to school at 82

Marion Gommerman is heading back to class in Toronto this fall, with a goal to finish post-secondary studies she began decades ago.

cbc.ca

The first week of term was extra interesting for me this year!

Family affair: Toronto grandmother to study at UofT with her grandson, a fellow student and daughter, a professor

Marion Gommerman isn’t sure where her lifelong love of learning came from, but at 82 years old, she’s leaning into it. This fall, Gommerman will be among those heading back to class and hitting the bo...

ctvnews.ca

My favourite academic duty is attending convocation. Congrats to our Immunology grads! @uoftmedicine.bsky.social

And that’s a wrap - the GRC on Neuroimmune connections in health and disease here in Ciocco, Tuscany. Congrats to our poster winners and all our speakers on a great meeting!

🚨🦠🔬 Last month to register to the EMBO workshop on Adaptive Immunity in Barrier Tissues. 📍 Where: Basel, Switzerland 📅 When: 26th–29th August 2025 📝 Registration deadline: 30th May 2025 Childcare support & travel grants from @embo.org and @efis-immunology.bsky.social #EMBOBarrierTissues

Adaptive immunity in barrier tissues

Immune responses lie at the heart of almost every aspect of human health, including host responses to infection, autoimmunity, cancer, metabolism and aging. While adaptive immune responses by B and T…

meetings.embo.org

This is the best slide show finisher EVER! Baweleta Isho in my lab assembled all lab cats into this Biorender (acknowledged) montage.

The GommerLab celebrates 5 GRADUATES: Salma Sheikh Mohamed PhD (Guardian of the mucosal galaxy) and for MSc: Sophie Wang, Catherine Chi, Numa Sayeed & Kennedy Hoven.

Congrats to Dr. Salma Sheikh Mohamed on the successful defence of a brilliant thesis!!! I have learned so much from you during your time with @immunologyuoft.bsky.social and am looking forward to seeing what you do next.

A perfect ending to the Canadian Society for Immunology meeting and a perfect beginning to a new tradition - the inaugural Gill Wu Mentorship award given to Gill herself. Thanks for mentoring us Gill. Most important job in academia. @superwuster.bsky.social

Day 1 of CSI with keynote from Ira Mellman. And no it’s not a meeting about crime scenes, it’s the Canadian Society for Immunology. We had the name first.

A wet start to the running season with @immunologyuoft.bsky.social‬ participating in the 5k/8k spring run-off in High Park. As expected these young scientists kicked my butt. #wellness.

Thrilled to share our @elife.bsky.social paper "Inflammasomes primarily restrict cytosolic Salmonella replication within human macrophages" by 1st author Dr. @marisaegan.bsky.social (@cambupenn.bsky.social alum, now faculty @swarthmorecollege.bsky.social)! elifesciences.org/articles/90107 🧵(1/n)

🚨We're hiring another tenure-track at McGill University: focus on brain-body science! 👇 mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/mcgill...

NIH “is expected to cut between 3,400 and 5,000 positions from its workforce of 20,000 in coming days.” Story by @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...

At NIH, ‘everyone is on edge’ as they brace for deep cuts and more centralized control

As the NIH braces for cuts of up to 5,000 of its 20,000 positions, “people are scrambling and freaking out,” a researcher said.

statnews.com

We are recruiting @ox.ac.uk @dunnschool.bsky.social for a joint project between Kevin Foster's group and mine! Cluster hire of two postdocs interested in: 1) Mucosal immunology and oral vaccine development my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... 2) Microbiology my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... Please share!

Thanks you @charite.bsky.social and especially Francesca Ronchi for hosting me today for a fantastic visit. Seeing the Berlin spring start to emerge was an added bonus!

Mother-son March break trips starting on the airport train to YYZ. 2025 = Berlin; 2017 = Paris. Where did the time go?

Happy #internationalwomensday. I spent the morning on a sunny walk with 2 women I admire and love.

Hi friends - leaving tomorrow for Berlin for spring break with my youngest son - an 18 y.o. aspiring jazz musician. We love history, music and art. We have some plans but curious to hear your recommendations. And I’m visiting the Charite too which will be awesome!

🔬 "CURIOSITY IS INFECTIOUS" – PhD Positions in Infection Research at HZI! We are looking for the next generation of pioneers in infection research! 🧬🦠💊 Explore exciting projects - from host-pathogen interactions and novel antiinfectives to molecular mechanisms of infection and immunity.

1/ @nabroderick.bsky.social and @harmitmalik.bsky.social have posed questions asking how to US students may seek opportunities outside the US (EU and Canada). As a Department Chair in Canada in #immunosky, I offer my perspective in this "bluetorial".

Join us on Thursday 25th April to celebrate World Immunology Day 2025. This year, we will discuss “The immune system and your brain”. Please register using the link to the event below www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/wor...

World Immunology Day 2025 | "The immune system and your brain"

crick.ac.uk