#ImmunometabolismPower! Excited to share our review @cp-cellchembiol.bsky.social with super-talented @tristramryan.bsky.social about the activity of immunometabolites of the #TCA #Krebs cycle working as metabolic damage-associated molecular patterns #metaDAMPs in health & disease!

Metabolic danger signals: TCA cycle metabolites regulate immunity and disease

Mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites have emerged as critical regulators of immunity and inflammation beyond their canonical metab…

sciencedirect.com

We are excited to share two preprints reporting a mosquito-specific receptor for chikungunya virus and other alphaviruses! 🤩 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvardmicro.bsky.social @harvardvirology.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social

Bacteriology-Focused Assistant Professor Position in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan Application deadline: August 15, 2026 Come be my colleague!

Had so much fun writing this commentary for #msphere! Grateful for the opportunity to write about work that’s shaped my perspective on innate immunity and RNA virus infection journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

mSphere of Influence: Damage in RNA virus infection—a feature or a bug? | mSphere

How does the body recognize viral infection? How do viruses engage the immune system during replication? These seemingly simple questions led me to study pattern recognition, a concept first proposed ...

journals.asm.org

Beautiful work led by Stephanie Ragland and @jkagan1.bsky.social! Love learning something new about STING activation

Jonathan Kagan@jkagan1.bsky.social · 3w ago

A new PAMP, a new innate immunity principle and a new preclinical application. I am so pleased to share our study on STING activation mechanisms in health and disease. Led by the fantastic Stephanie Ragland, follow the link below for a summary of all we learned. www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

#InterferonPower #InflammasomePower! Thrilled for our 💥#NewPaper💥 @natimmunol.nature.com spearheaded by Kautilya Jena showing that our #fungal adjuvant #Mannadjuvant prolongs & potentiates protection of mRNA vaccines via #IL1b & #IFNs, broadening it to new variants & overcoming antigenic imprinting!

A glycan-based adjuvant expands the breadth and duration of protection of mRNA-based vaccines

Nature Immunology - Jena, Qu et al. show that mannadjuvant, a formulation of fungal mannan and aluminum hydroxide, increases the magnitude, durability and breadth of the response elicited by...

rdcu.be

UNC announced virologist Ralph Baric, accused of starting COVID-19, is retiring but we have the exclusive backstory--HHS wants to debar him and he's fighting it, calling BS on charges related to past work www.science.org/content/arti...

Virologist accused of starting COVID-19 will fight U.S. ban on funding

HHS memo says Ralph Baric had a “pattern of deception” in describing virus studies long before pandemic

science.org

Come be my colleague! Our department is looking to hire a tenure-track assistant professor with an emphasis on those studying bacterial pathogenesis.

Teresa O'Meara@teresaomeara.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We are hiring @umichmicroimmuno.bsky.social ! Tenure-track assistant professor position in our Microbiology and Immunology department. We are especially looking for someone working in bacterial pathogenesis

I've gotten lots of questions about our co-culture systems to study epithelial-immune interactions in viral infections, so wrote a step-by-step guide! I hope this will help anyone looking to adapt these protocols for their research. currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Co‐Culture Systems to Study Epithelial‐Immune Interactions During SARS‐CoV‐2 Infection

Robust inflammatory responses to viral infection are mediated by immune cell populations, including monocytes and dendritic cells. However, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2...

currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

A fantastic session! So happy to be a part of this group of scientists and learn more about their exciting work at #ASBMB2026

Charlie Evavold@synth-immune.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Our Cell Death in Immunity and Inflammation session was phenomenal today at #ASBMB2026. A pleasure to co-organize this with Cornelius Taabazuing @taabaman.bsky.social. @ragoninstitute.bsky.social @upenn.edu Jianbin Ruan, @katbarnett.bsky.social, Kasia Groburz, & @pedrosvdr.bsky.social

Too much data, too little thinking. A important essay from Ruslan Medzhitov on the importance of understanding data, not just generating it. A must read. @Yale www.nature.com/articles/s41...

On the balance of knowledge - Nature Reviews Immunology

Ruslan Medzhitov shares his thoughts on the balance between generating data and developing theories in immunology, with a focus on exploring the rules that govern complex systems.

nature.com

Rhinoviruses cause common cold & asthma attacks but are also often benign. Using nasal organoids, we learned how the community of cells in the lining the nasal passages coordinates to respond to rhinovirus and which responses lead to excess mucus & inflammation. www.cell.com/cell-press-b...

Rhinovirus triggers distinct host responses through differential engagement of epithelial innate immune signaling

Rhinoviruses are the most frequent cause of common colds and also a major cause of respiratory distress in high-risk groups. Using single-cell sequencing of rhinovirus-infected nasal epithelial organo...

cell.com

Thrilled to share our new preprint showing that dietary amino acids license the NLRP3 inflammasome via mTOR-dependent mRNA translation! Congrats to co-1st authors @mikelhaggadone.bsky.social, Brian Goldspiel, co-senior author @metabailism.bsky.social & collaborators! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Mikel Haggadone, PhD@mikelhaggadone.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I’m stoked to share my postdoc work with @sunnyshinlab.bsky.social, a collaborative effort with @metabailism.bsky.social & Brian Goldspiel, aided by many valued collaborators: Environmental Amino Acid Sensing Regulates the Rate of ASC Translation and NLRP3 Inflammasome Assembly. Some big takeaways:

💥New paper alert!💥 What’s better than starting 2026 with an @annualreviews.bsky.social #Immunology, often a once-in-a-life honor ❤️?! Check it out if you want to know everything about type III interferons #IFN! Thanks to my wonderful team for their amazing work 🤗 doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Molecular, Cellular, Tissue, and Organismal Functions of Type III Interferons

Type III interferons are essential immune mediators playing pleiotropic roles during health and disease. In this review, we highlight the molecular and cellular pathways that lead to the production of...

doi.org

Evidence continues building that oxidized lipids drive inflammasome activities in health and disease.  A beautiful study shows a link to multiple sclerosis, with a role for inflammasomes and IL-1 in pathology.  Kudos to the authors on this exciting discovery. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Oxidized phosphatidylcholines deposition drives chronic neurodegeneration in a mouse model of progressive multiple sclerosis via IL-1β signaling - Nature Neuroscience

In this study, Yu et al. found that a positive feedback loop between oxidized phosphatidylcholine and IL-1β promotes chronic neurodegeneration in the central nervous system and could be a contributing...

nature.com

#InflammasomePower! 💥New paper alert💥 How is NLPR3 primed & activated in chronic non-communicable inflammatory diseases? With @oceanedufies.bsky.social &co we show that chronic exposure to oxPAPC drives NRF2 activation that primes & activates NLRP3 sustaining #atherosclerosis in mice & humans! 👇👇👇

Chronic sensing of host-derived lipids is an all-in-one signal that primes and activates NLRP3.

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome leads to the production of bioactive interleukin (IL)-1β fostering atherosclerosis. The current dogma is that NLRP3 must be first primed by microbial stimuli, know...

biorxiv.org

Check out our new publication, a collaboration with Giovanni Luchetti and Vishva Dixit @ Genentech. We show that the E.coli effector NleL inhibits intestinal epithelial cell extrusion after #inflammasome activation via degrading the kinases ROCK1 and 2!! www.nature.com/articles/s41... Explainer 1/8

Enteropathogenic bacteria evade ROCK-driven epithelial cell extrusion - Nature

The bacterial ubiquitin ligase NleL evades host defence mechanisms both by inhibiting pyroptosis and by preventing infected intestinal epithelial cells from being extruded into the lumen and expelled ...

nature.com

It’s #BlackInMicro week! This year’s theme is HARMONY and we have a great program scheduled. You can find more info on our website: blackinmicrobiology.org. Register for free to check it out. Everyone is welcome! 🦠

Black Microbiologists Assoc (Black In Micro)@blackinmicro.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Welcome to Black In Micro Week! 🎉 Don't miss today's free events - simply click the linktr.ee/BlackInMicro to 1) Register and 2) Login. Everyone is welcome to join! Show your support by donating at tinyurl.com/GiveBiM (all links in bio). #BlackInMicro #BiM2025

#DAMPsPower! Balachandran, Yin &co show @nature.com that upon influenza #IAV or herpes #HSV1 virus infection, ZBP1 induces cell death by sensing #host-derived endogenous retroelement Z-RNAs produced in response to virulence factors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#LiveForever! Chen, Mao &co show @science.org that not all #cGAS are equals & that naked mole-rats one bears a 4 amino acid mutation which enhances DNA repair & when transferred in aged mice dampens frailty, hair graying, inflammatory & senescence markers! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A cGAS-mediated mechanism in naked mole-rats potentiates DNA repair and delays aging

Efficient DNA repair might make possible the longevity of naked mole-rats. However, whether they have distinctive mechanisms to optimize functions of DNA repair suppressors is unclear. We find that na...

science.org

It’s Discovery Research Week! Every day, the bold work of our U-M researchers and scientists points the way to life-changing treatments and cures patients and families need. Visit victors.us/researchsep25 Please consider supporting the work of departments like M&I.

Support Discovery Research Week at Michigan Medicine!

From September 29 to October 5, 2025, we invite you to join us for Discovery Research Week to celebrate and support our scientists and learners who lay the groundwork for the medical breakthroughs of ...

victors.us

Thrilled to share my work from the @jkagan1.bsky.social lab! TLDR: O-acetylation and wall teichoic acid compete for space on S. aureus peptidoglycan. This competition regulates DNA release, and thus immune receptor activation, during infection! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #microsky #immunosky

Wall teichoic acid is required for DNA-triggered innate immune receptor activation by Staphylococcus aureus

Receptors that stimulate inflammation are commonly activated by ligands that are buried within microbial cells. The mechanisms that facilitate immunostimulatory ligand release from microbes during inf...

biorxiv.org

The mechanism of STING NF-κB signaling has remained a mystery. An exciting new study from the Paludan lab now uses data throughout animal STING evolution to provide new answers – including isolating white blood cells from turtles and carp! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An NLRP3 stimulatory universal influenza vaccine. We report an NLRP3 stimulus that generates hyperactive dendritic cells (hDCs). journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

An NLRP3-stimulatory adjuvant improves the immunogenicity of influenza virus vaccines in mice and non-human primates | mBio

The generation of vaccines that stimulate T cell activities is an unmet need for the scientific community, as T cells are the primary mediators of immune memory. In this study, we report a new vaccine...

journals.asm.org

💥 #ImmunometabolismPower! Excited to have this officially out @cp-immunity.bsky.social 💥 We show that pathogens induce the host to produce oxidized lipids which rewire the #metabolism of #macrophages, causing #epigenetic modifications which dampen anti-inflammatory IL-10, exacerbating #inflammation!

Epigenetic silencing of interleukin-10 by host-derived oxidized phospholipids supports a lethal inflammatory response to infections

Phagocytes initiate immunity to invading microorganisms by detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns via pattern recognition receptors. Pathoge…

sciencedirect.com

The recent cuts to federal mRNA research funding are killing our best chance to cure cancer. Read my OP-ED on this topic in BioSpace, linked below. www.biospace.com/drug-develop...

Opinion: Antagonism to mRNA Technology Is Killing Our Best Shot At a Cure For Cancer

The recent announcement of RFK Jr.’s termination of mRNA vaccine contracts is the latest effort to undermine this promising technology at the federal level. Pharmaceutical companies and private invest...

biospace.com

Why does RNA undergo glycosylation? Excited to have our paper out. We in collab w/ Ryan Flynn @raflynn5.bsky.social show N-glycans on glycoRNA hide self-RNA from endosomal TLRs promoting silent removal of dead cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @uconnresearch.bsky.social @uconnhealth.bsky.social

Sometimes the news is actually worth reading. "Senate panel rejects Trump cuts to NIH, other health agencies" l.smartnews.com/p-5Vc5EAFi/f...

Senate panel rejects Trump cuts to NIH, other health agencies (The Hill)

The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the Trump administration’s massive proposed funding cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), advancing a ...

l.smartnews.com

Extra kudos and thanks to all the staff at NIH and NSF and other federal funding agencies for working extra hard in very small windows of opportunity to get grants reviewed and funds released before the attention-addled federal policies change again (on an hourly basis).

Everything you wanted to know about oxidized lipids & immunity, in one review. We explain how oxidized lipids impact inflammation, dendritic cells, anti-tumor immunity and more. Kudos to Joon Choi for his exceptional work. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Oxidized phospholipid damage signals as modulators of immunity | Open Biology

Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are self-derived molecules released during tissue damage that influence immune responses. Phospholipids, essential to cell membranes and lung surfactants, ...

royalsocietypublishing.org