Dr. Marc K. Jenkins is a scientific hero for so many of us. And just a man who loves to sing Johnny Cash for some. Please join us in celebrating his extraordinary career with a retirement symposium at the University of Minnesota on Monday, September 14th! 🎉 To learn more see link in post below👇:

A decade ago we showed that T-dependent IgM+ memory B cells (MBCs) that express CD80 and CD73 rapidly respond to a secondary Plasmodium infection (Krishnamurty, Immunity, 2016). Since then, post-doc Gretchen Harms Pritchard has been working out the cues that lead to the formation of these cells. ⤵️

Journal of Experimental Medicine@jem.org · 2mo ago

Harms Pritchard, @marionpepper.bsky.social et al. dissect key CD4⁺ T cell/B cell interactions to define signals that govern the development of memory B cell populations. rupress.org/jem/article/... #InfectiousDisease #HostDefense #LymphocyteBiology #BCells

Take a deep breath.

I am reviewing a simply amazing paper from a relatively young US-based lab, which is in danger of shutting its doors later this year. My emotions are all over the place. The fact that this does not uniquely identify the lab I’m referring to just deepens the tragedy of this moment in US science.

How is immunological research transforming the fight against chronic disease? Join us on March 18 for a Congressional Briefing on the new era of autoimmune therapies. Learn how we’re closing the gap for 31M+ Americans living with autoimmunity: https://ow.ly/RJUn50YrwL8. #AAIadvocacy

1. #Measles update: The total confirmed cases so far this year has risen to 1362 as of 3/12. Key context: The 2026 total to date is 60% of the 2025 total for the entire year. #CDC reports that among cases with known vax status, 92% weren't vaxed. There've been 14 new outbreaks this year.

1. Time for a #flu & #measles update. Six more kids have died from flu, bringing the year-to-date total to 66. Sadly there will be more deaths reported but hopefully this year doesn't approach last year's dreadful pediatric death toll. #CDC estimates ~90% of these kids weren't vaccinated.

1. #CDC posted new #flu data today. A 🧵 Another pediatric death was reported in the 2024-25 flu season, making it the deadliest flu season for kids since CDC started collecting this data point 20 years ago. 2024-25 has surpassed the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. 9 kids have died from flu so far this year.

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

We're hiring for tenure-track faculty! Please apply if you have interests in immune responses to microbes and/or cancer, immune regulation, microbial infections (bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi), the microbiota, and/or interests that span these disciplines. arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

“Thousands of very competitive projects in areas like cancer, diabetes, aging, neurological disorders and public health improvements most like went unfunded in 2025. Similarly, at the National Science Foundation, the roughly 3,000 fewer new grants encompassed reductions to every area of science”

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine

A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

nytimes.com

A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions. A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪

Congratulations to Karel Svoboda and @jshendure.bsky.social on their election to the National Academy of Medicine (@nam.edu)! Election to the Academy is one of the highest honors in health and medicine. #NAMmtg More on their journeys to this achievement: alleninstitute.org/news/karel-s...

Karel Svoboda and Jay Shendure elected to National Academy of Medicine

The honor recognizes leaders who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and made lasting contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health

alleninstitute.org

Super excited about first Shendure/Baker Lab collaboration & preprint on a multiplex sequencing-based strategy for screening de novo proteome editors in mammalian cells. Kudos to the brilliant Chase Suiter (not here) & @greenahn.bsky.social on the work! Preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Nobel Prize given for showing the importance of investing in science for innovation and long-term economic growth. Basically the opposite of what the US is doing. 😭

Nature@nature.com · 10mo ago

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Pewter Howitt share economics prize for work that underlines the importance of investing in research and development. go.nature.com/4hj9NNV

Asthma is a chronic disease characterized by acute, intermittent, recurrent episodes of airway inflammation. A decade of work developing the tools, techniques and collaborations needed to figure out how CD4+ T cells in the lungs propagate disease can be found here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Tertiary lymphoid structures support the development of allergen-specific progenitor CD4+ T cells

Tissue-resident memory CD4+ T cells (TRM) are key sentinels of the adaptive immune response that provide a rapid, robust inflammatory response upon reactivation in non-lymphoid tissues. While CD4+ TRM...

biorxiv.org

More coming on what this means but this was one of those stories that took almost a decade to come together but was well worth the time. Also check out a companion piece on @biorxiv by Patrick Brennan!

Waggoner Lab@labwaggoner.bsky.social · 10mo ago

@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social Tertiary lymphoid structures support the development of allergen-specific progenitor CD4+ T cells @marionpepper.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥 We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪 Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇 open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

Neat study—following 320 healthcare workers for almost a year, with 152 of them being infected, the authors examined whether or not COVID-19 associates with more upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). It didn't (yay!). But, having a kid <5 associated with a 74% increase in the risk of URTIs.

Is COVID-19 Associated With an Increased Risk of Subsequent Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Adults? A Prospective Cohort Study

AbstractBackground. In Autumn 2022, a surge in upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) was observed worldwide. Individuals anecdotally reported increase

academic.oup.com

Excited to be here! Have to admit John Denver was running through my head as we wound our way through the country roads of West Virginia.

Pitt Department of Immunology@pitt-immunology.bsky.social · 11mo ago

We are thrilled to have @marionpepper.bsky.social from @uwdeptmedicine.bsky.social joining us to give the keynote presentation!

If you read 1 thing today, please make it this: my so-talented colleague @ericboodman.bsky.social explains why babies in the US are vaccinated at birth against hep B — and what the human costs of changing that policy would be. www.statnews.com/2025/09/11/n...

Dropping hepatitis B shots for newborns would ignore history and endanger children, scientists warn

People who study, treat, or have hepatitis B say ending routine vaccination at birth - as some vaccine critics want - could lead to a resurgence of the virus.

statnews.com

In a post on Truth Social, the president suggested that the CDC was being “ripped apart” over a question that was answered long ago — whether Covid vaccines work. (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/h...

Trump Wants Proof That Covid Vaccines Work. It’s Easy to Find.

nytimes.com

Yesterday the president demanded that evidence about Covid vaccines be shown to the public. Today @apoorvanyt.bsky.social & I run through some of the studies made public over the past 4+ years that show that the vaccines work. Gift link: nyti.ms/46k17Tq

Enormous thanks to @immunologyking.bsky.social and @maurogaya.bsky.social for organizing a vibrant, invigorating #EMBObarriertissues workshop. A poignant reminder of how critical immunological studies are for ameliorating human disease. And a lot of fun people. 🐟 #wickelfisch

I only heard tonight that Mike is no longer with us. All credit to him in setting me on this path as an immunologist. The description of his teaching brings back such warm memories. I recognize so many of the scientists on his collage. What a gift to the world he was. www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

Michael Cancro (1949–2025)

Just a few weeks ago, researchers and educators connected to immunology lost a wonderful friend and colleague: Michael Cancro, professor of pathology and lab medicine at the University of Pennsylvania...

cell.com

We mostly rely on Bayesian guesswork to predict how long antibodies will be produced for new vaccines/infections. Here, we find that some of the key programs are set *really* early. We hope early signatures can be used to predict and engineer durable vaccine immunity. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Early, adjuvant-responsive epigenetic programs in B cells imprint subsequent plasma cell survival and the duration of humoral immunity

The duration of antibody production varies across different infections and vaccines. To define molecular programs that promote durable humoral immunity, we used mice deficient in ZBTB20, a transcripti...

biorxiv.org

The ousting of Dr. Susan Monarez as CDC Director, followed within hours by the resignations of Dr. Deb Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, mark a collapse of public health leadership with consequences that reach every American household.

Applications are now open! We are recruiting 20 Assistant Professors in a wide range of subject areas. We're looking for early-career researchers with strong scientific merits and future potential. 🔗 All positions: ki.se/en/about-ki/...

With deep gratitude, we thank Dr. Marc Jenkins for his decades of leadership, mentorship, and dedication to the Center for Immunology. The foundation he built will guide and inspire us for years to come.

If you believe that keeping your head down and being quiet will spare you from this fate, you are mistaken. This will be all of us.

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 12mo ago

New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated. [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...