Lynn B. Dustin
@lynndustin.bsky.social
American scientist living and working in UK. Immunology, virology, nature, dogs, birds, arts and literature, some politics and humor.
Proinflammatory lytic cell death releases cytosolic TRIM21, which binds to circulating antibodies and is internalized by macrophages, stimulating cross-antigen presentation and inflammation in Sjögren’s disease. Learn more in #ScienceImmunology: https://scim.ag/41C1Ts7
The autoantigen TRIM21 assembles proinflammatory immune complexes after lytic cell death
TRIM21/Ro52 assembles proinflammatory immune complexes.
scim.ag
www.kennedy.ox.ac.uk/news/researc...
Researchers find clue to how Sjögren’s disease persists
A new study has found that a protein TRIM21 linked to Sjögren’s disease may be fuelling the condition in an unexpected way. Researchers at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology have discovered that du...
kennedy.ox.ac.uk
Sami Barkal is a student at the Kennedy Institute @kiroxford.bsky.social. In his student story, Sami shares his journey from his home of Syria to Germany as a refugee, to where he is today studying for his degree.
Student story: From refugee camps to Oxford | University of Oxford
Sami Barkal is a 5th year medical student at Oxford's Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology and is a visiting student from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. In this student story, Sami details his
ox.ac.uk
Congratulations to newly minted Dr. Esther L. Jones @estherlj.bsky.social on her successful DPhil viva! A great collaborative project between the L. Dustin and Jelena Bezbradica @jelenalab.bsky.social labs. Many thanks to examiners Irina Udalova @udalovalab.bsky.social and Menna Clatworthy.
Vaccines are rigorously tested, they are effective, and they save lives. More than 150 million lives have been saved in the past 50 years thanks to vaccines! But you may be worried about what's in them? So, let’s break it down ⬇
Canceling clinical trials for life-saving treatments destroys families. Not autism.
“The best revenge is to refuse their values. To embody the kind of living—free, colorful, open—they want to snuff out. So when they dehumanize, you humanize. When they try to fracture and divide people, you connect… When they try to make you cynical, you double down on hope.” Anand Giridharadas
The opposite of fascism
Living well and fighting back in a time of terrors
the.ink
Disease diagnostics using machine learning of B cell and T cell receptor sequences | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Disease diagnostics using machine learning of B cell and T cell receptor sequences
Clinical diagnosis typically incorporates physical examination, patient history, various laboratory tests, and imaging studies but makes limited use of the human immune system’s own record of antigen ...
science.org
Today is International Day of Women & Girls in Science. Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Her contributions have left an indelible mark on the world of science & health & continue to inspire generations of scientists & innovators. 🔬 #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/h...
Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid (Gift Article)
Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work.
nytimes.com
Have you or a loved one been treated for cancer? Ever have a vaccine? Had someone you love revived by chest compressions? If so, then you have benefited from NIH-funded research, which has just been effectively shut down by the cancellation of NIH study sections. No new research allowed.
NEW: Trump orders federal health agencies to STOP communicating health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites, and to stop making social media posts. I said previously I was worried about the lack of reporting. Here it is. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Trump officials ask US health agencies to pause external communications, Washington Post reports
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications, such as health advisories, weekly scientific reports, updates to websites and social media posts, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing a dozen current and former officials and sources.
reuters.com
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An engineered immunogen activates diverse HIV broadly neutralizing antibody precursors and promotes acquisition of improbable mutations
An immunogen engineered by computational and structure-based methods activated diverse B cell precursors and induced rare mutations in mouse models.
science.org
There's a really interesting new paper out in Science for people who care about immunity to flu (which should be everyone because flu is a VERY big problem): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Here's my thread explaining this work🧵
Coupling antigens from multiple subtypes of influenza can broaden antibody and T cell responses
The seasonal influenza vaccine contains strains of viruses from distinct subtypes that are grown independently and then combined. However, most individuals exhibit a more robust response to one of the...
science.org
Super important thread on why we must continue vaccinating against Polio
Angie Rasmussen@angierasmussen.bsky.social · 2y agoMy replies are perpetually full of anti-vaxxers these days telling me about polio vaccines. Not shockingly, most of what they are saying is wrong. Luckily, I trained with Vincent Racaniello & he taught me a few things about poliovirus. So let’s discuss the king of the Picornaviridae👇🏻
Finally, some good news! www.bmj.com/content/387/...
Chocolate intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort studies
Objective To prospectively investigate the associations between dark, milk, and total chocolate consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in three US cohorts. Design Prospective cohort studies. ...
bmj.com
Antibody mimicry of a substrate to block flu neuraminidases!
bioRxiv Immunology@biorxiv-immuno.bsky.social · 2y agoStructural Convergence and Water-Mediated Substrate Mimicry Enable Broad Neuraminidase Inhibition by Human Antibodies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.27.625426v1
A new #Immune dropped! On this episode we discuss a snippet on how olfactory macrophages maintain neurons and a paper on failure to establish long lived plasma cells following mRNA vaccination. youtu.be/niecXH7an_k
Immune
A podcast on the host defense systems that protect against disease
microbe.tv
Interesting preprint for #interferonlovers #IFN #virosky airway epithelial cells from individuals with Down syndrome have high basal ISGs but have a dysregulated production and response to type III #interferon, causing RSV susceptibility. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
biorxiv.org
One of the things I still don’t understand is how these tech bros can be pro-technology and anti science.
SARS CoV-2 infection is associated with particular autoantibody profiles. Wondering how many other infectious diseases also induce specific autoantibodies. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Prevalent and persistent new-onset autoantibodies in mild to severe COVID-19 - Nature Communications
Autoantibody immune responses could contribute to acute and post-COVID-19 symptoms. Here, the authors describe longitudinal autoantibody responses in a cohort of healthcare workers and hospitalised CO...
nature.com
Cool study—infection history matters
ejustin46@ejustin46.bsky.social · 2y agoSARS-COV-2 POPULATION IMMUNITY: EPITOPES, EPITOPES and EPITOPES ! An epitope is a small part of a molecule (like a protein) that the immune system recognizes and binds to, triggering a response. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
