Kai Mesa
@kaimesa.bsky.social
Macrophage and stem cell biologist. Interested in rebuilding tissues. Assistant Professor at @princetonmolbio.bsky.social. Opinions are my own. He/him. https://mesa-lab.org/
3 great days at the SIC Summer School in Hornbæk with inspiring talks, short talks from young researchers, poster sessions, networking, and a trip to Esrum Abbey. Thank you to all speakers, participants, organisers, and the LEO Foundation for supporting the summer school. See you 24–26 May 2027.
🎉 First preprint from our lab! Regulatory T cells are selectively recruited to regenerating but not scarring mouse digit tips, driving macrophage-mediated bone remodeling essential for regrowth. A new axis of innate/adaptive immune cooperation in mammalian regeneration! #immunology #regeneration
bioRxiv Immunology@biorxiv-immuno.bsky.social · 3mo agoSelective Treg recruitment to bone remodeling niches is required for digit tip regeneration https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.04.722813v1
Selective Treg recruitment to bone remodeling niches is required for digit tip regeneration https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.04.722813v1
Lim lab investigates: Helminth worm-infected mice give birth to pups with elevated anti-viral defenses in their lungs, leaving them more resistant to infection by respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV. What causes these protective effects? molbio.princeton.edu/news/2026/wh...
What is lost is not lost
Lim lab investigates: Helminth worm-infected mice give birth to pups who have elevated anti-viral defenses in their lungs, leaving them more resistant to infection with respiratory viruses such as inf...
molbio.princeton.edu
Visibility in Academia, like in the world, is not fixed; it is produced. This piece “What Cell Biology Reveals About Academia” is a reminder that everyone has the potential to be either seen or unseen. sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/23/w...
What Cell Biology Reveals About Academia - Science Politics
Our work reminds me that everyone has the potential to be either seen or unseen.
sciencepolitics.org
Looking for motivated postdocs interested in doing exciting research at the intersection of immunology and regenerative biology. We use intravital two-photon imaging to track and manipulate immune cell behavior at the single-cell level in live animals mesa-lab.org Apply: apply.interfolio.com/180660
Mesa Laboratory
mesa-lab.org
When Macrophages Disappear, Skin Blood Vessels Age! Check out our new study @nature.com that uncovers how the loss of capillary-associated macrophages with age blocks vessel repair and blood flow, revealing a new cellular trigger of tissue aging. #Aging #Immunology 👇👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Niche-specific dermal macrophage loss promotes skin capillary ageing - Nature
Capillary-associated macrophages are selectively lost over time, contributing to impaired vascular repair and reduced tissue perfusion in older mice.
nature.com
A few days late, but I’m happy to post our recent publication on body-to-brain signaling regulation of memory in Nature Aging:
Nature Aging@nataging.nature.com · last yr.Online now!✨RESEARCH: Zhou, Novak et al show that the hypodermis regulates memory in C. elegans via insulin/IGF-1 and Notch signaling; activating this pathway rescues CREB-dependent memory in aged worms @ctmurphy1.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s43... rdcu.be/eo3Pd
The FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award aims to highlight the major contributions made by female scientists to #LifeSciences research. Winners of the award are inspiring role models for future generations of #WomenInScience Nominate a scientist by 15 May: www.embo.org/the-embo-com... 🧪
FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Awardees – Nominate for the Women in Science Award – EMBO
Nominees should be female scientists working in an EMBC Member State or FEBS member country, who have made outstanding contributions to life sciences research and significantly advanced our…
embo.org
🔬 A new probe developed by Janelia researchers & collaborators that enables visualization of extracellular matrix structure in live tissues could also be useful in studying diseases linked to changes in the extracellular matrix and in diagnostic imaging ➡️ www.janelia.org/news/looking...
Immunologists and neuroscientists collaborate to show experience of cold temps leaves a lasting impression on the brain. In Nature paper today by labs of Princeton's Lydia Lynch @lydialynch.bsky.social and Trinity College Dubin's Tomás Ryan @tjryan.bsky.social. molbio.princeton.edu/news/2025/co...
Cold comforts: animals form memories about temperature
The experience of cold temperatures leaves a lasting impression on the brain, according to a new study published April 23, 2035 in the journal Nature. The study was conducted through a collaborative e...
molbio.princeton.edu
Interested in graduate training in molecular and cellular biology? Consider the MolBio Scholars program. A fully funded visit to Princeton to learn about grad admissions, meet MolBio faculty, postdocs, and grad students, and attend the departmental retreat. molbio.princeton.edu/graduate/mol...
Submicron-Sampling of Living Cells by Macrophages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.10.648051v1
Congrats🎉 to MolBio's Ai Ing Lim, one of three 2025 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award Recipients! “This grant means freedom… I can take more risks.” genestogenomes.org/this-grant-m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o... Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist (Gift Article)
Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.
nytimes.com
Interested in aging? Super excited about this upcoming Keystone meeting!! 🧪🌲🌲 Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health -- Banff, Canada in 2026!!! ✨✨ Joint meeting with the Keystone Innate Immunity meeting! #aging #immunity @keystonesymposia.bsky.social www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health | Keystone Symposia
Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health, March 2026, in Banff, with field leaders!
keystonesymposia.org
How many cells do you need to establish PCP? The magic number is 3! Beautiful work by Lena Basta in Danelle Devenport's lab. Happy to have contributed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Epithelial polarization by the planar cell polarity complex is exclusively non–cell autonomous
For cells to polarize collectively along a tissue plane, asymmetrically localized planar cell polarity (PCP) complexes must form intercellular contacts between neighboring cells. Yet, it is unknown wh...
science.org
Excited to share our revised manuscript! We adapted new live imaging tools to track the same tissue resident macrophages for months in aging mice. We found a macrophage population that contributes to vascular health in young skin, but is lost as we age... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
From MBoC @jraslab findings demonstrate that Langerhans cells exhibit context-specific changes in calcium activity and highlight the utility of skin as an accessible model for imaging calcium dynamics in tissue-resident macrophages. www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...
This week in #Science #Immunology: Lukas Amann, Marco Prinz, & colleagues at @uni-freiburg.de report that #extrasinusoidal #macrophages in the #mouse #DuraMater represent a distinct subset of #CNS -associated macrophages whose role is shaped by #autoimmune #neuroinflammation! #neuroimmunology
Extrasinusoidal macrophages are a distinct subset of immunologically active dural macrophages
Extrasinusoidal dural macrophages are a distinct subset of immunologically active central nervous system–associated macrophages.
science.org
Excited to announce that our 2025 Advanced Research Training Course schedule is up and applications are open! 🎉🎉🎉 See you in Woods Hole! mbl.edu/courses 🧪🐙🦑🧠🐟
One of the alluring and theoretical strategies for extending healthspan and longevity is to rejuvenate the thymus gland, promote an intact immune system. Now there's a way to do that in aged mice. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
After 60 years, scientists finally know why ginger, calico, and tortoiseshell #cats look the way they do. scim.ag/3BpxRxY
Gene behind orange fur in cats found at last
After 60 years, scientists know why gingers, calicos, and tortoiseshells look the way they do
scim.ag
Learn more about her lab and their work: www.hhmi.org/news/tapping...
Tapping into Bacterial Conversations | HHMI
Over the course of 30 years, HHMI Investigator Bonnie Bassler has helped usher in a new branch of science centered on quorum sensing, the process by which bacteria communicate with one another and orc...
hhmi.org
