Wonderful to have this published - a massive trans-Tasman effort spear-headed by @francis-middleton.bsky.social in his PhD to explore T-cells in rheumatic fever, including seeing CXCR3+ T cells in valve tissue. It highlights a need for new therapies that bock immune-cell migration and tissue damage

francis-middleton.bsky.social@francis-middleton.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We’re excited to announce our latest paper @natcomms.nature.com: ‘CXCR3 is associated with T-cell-induced heart damage in acute rheumatic fever.’ We found evidence for T cell migration out of the blood and into heart valves during inflammatory rheumatic fever. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Get Primed on Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease with our NEW PrimeView! FREE to download this week! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease - Nature Reviews Disease Primers

This PrimeView highlights the epidemiology, pathophysiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and managment of acute rheumatic fever, an autoimmune sequel of group A Streptococus infections.

nature.com

NEW on our blog: Behind the paper: Māori and Pacific People’s perspectives on Group A Streptococcus vaccine development and delivery in Aotearoa, New Zealand speakingofmedicine.plos.org/2026/02/04/b...

Behind the paper: Māori and Pacific People’s perspectives on Group A Streptococcus vaccine development and delivery in Aotearoa, New Zealand

In this post, we speak to the authors of a recent PLOS Global Public Health article, Māori and Pacific People’s perspectives on Group A Streptococcus vaccine development and delivery in Aotearoa, New ...

speakingofmedicine.plos.org

Acute rheumatic fever is an autoinflammatory disease @njmoreland.bsky.social, @rhcmcg.bsky.social report widespread antibody heterogeneity, yet identify a protein expressed in cardiac muscle as an immunodominant autoantigen: doi.org/10.1172/jci....

Our latest work used Phip-Seq to explore the autoantibody repertoire in rheumatic fever ➡️ saw evidence of epitope spreading and identified a new disease associated antigen with biomarker potential 🧪 Great collaboration with MSSM and led by @rhcmcg.bsky.social and @laurencarlton.bsky.social at UoA

Reuben McGregor @rhcmcg.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New paper out in JCI Insight: PhIP-Seq uncovers marked heterogeneity in Acute Rheumatic Fever Autoantibodies. ARF is a serious sequela of Strep A infection. While autoantibodies are known to drive pathogenesis, the specific human protein targets remain unclear. Link: doi.org/10.1172/jci.... 1/5

A recent update on Rapua, the initiate focused on accelerating Strep A vaccine development in Aotearoa New Zealand www.uniservices.co.nz/news/researc...

Research shows Auckland is an ideal place for Strep A vaccine innovation

At UniServices, we partner with the University of Auckland to transform ideas into real-world solutions that impact globally.

uniservices.co.nz

So many important insights on #StrepA immunity in this huge piece work by @alexjkeeley.bsky.social @thushan-desilva.bsky.social and the team in #TheGambia. A real privilege to have played a small role from down-under

Alex Keeley@alexjkeeley.bsky.social · last yr.

🧵 Our paper out today in @naturemedicine.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... On development of #StrepA #Immunity over life course in #TheGambia raising hope for #vaccines on the horizon 1/ #Immunosky #IDsky #MicroSky #globalhealth.

There are multiple reports of dramatic reductions followed by surges in invasive Strep A disease post-pandemic, and now here is one on rheumatic fever, with incidence mirroring superficial infections in the community in Auckland New Zealand - led by Julie Bennett www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/...

Pandemic mitigations reveal an association between superficial group A streptococcal infections and acute rheumatic fever incidence in Auckland New Zealand

Published in Emerging Microbes & Infections (Vol. 14, No. 1, 2025)

tandfonline.com

This deep dive into the clinical phenotype of rheumatic fever highlights extreme diversity in presenting symptoms. An important observation from the START study, and highlights why better diagnostic tests are needed 🧪 @annapralph.bsky.social @rhcmcg.bsky.social bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7...

Anna Ralph@annapralph.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨New rheumatic fever paper from the START study bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/7... shows children with RF stay in hospital up to 2mo & highlights international differences. Paves the way for global treatment trials🌍@menziesresearch.bsky.social @njmoreland.bsky.social @bmj.com @joshfrancis.bsky.social

The complete spectrum of serious #StrepA disease was observed in Auckland in 2023 - a mighty lab-based enhanced surveillance effort led by Andrew Fox-Lewis and Rachel Webb www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Capturing the complete clinical spectrum and incidence of severe acute Group A Streptococcus (GAS) disease: a population-based study in Auckland, New Zealand

This study demonstrates that the complete clinical spectrum of severe acute GAS disease occurs in Auckland and is associated with a substantial health and economic burden. The high incidence and entir...

thelancet.com

New preprint alert 🚨 My team and I are pleased to share our most recent story about how bacterial pathogen (Streptococcus pyogenes, Strep A) exposure induces antibody responses against glycan and protein antigens. For paper: SSRN ssrn.com/abstract=519... biorxiv : doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Super excited announce funded @wellcometrust.bsky.social extend #StrepA Human challenge inc. transfer to Gambia & identify correlates of protection. Great team @joshosowicki.bsky.social @precisionvaxlab.bsky.social @njmoreland.bsky.social @thushan-desilva.bsky.social y.social & others not on Bluesky

📣Research Technician job alert! Needed to support our #iSpyLIFE field work and #strep biobanking. www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Description

Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...

imperial.ac.uk

Following relaxation of #COVID19 restrictions surges in infections from respiratory pathogens like RSV and #StrepA have been seen in many countries including Aotearoa New Zealand. Did waning immunity contribute? We explored this concept in our latest work, see 🧵 academic.oup.com/jid/advance-...

Decline of antibodies to major viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic

Antibodies to respiratory syncytial virus and Group A Streptococcus waned significantly in a longitudinal cohort throughout the pandemic. This waning may h

academic.oup.com

This #StrepA paper was a LONG labour of love from a great team 😊 Equal first & senior author credits buried at the very end, so I want to highlight the critical contributions of Dr Hannah Frost & @njmoreland.bsky.social & Dr Danika Hill @precisionvaxlab.bsky.social rdcu.be/d2gBV

Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngitis elicits diverse antibody responses to key vaccine antigens influenced by the imprint of past infections

Nature Communications - Streptococcus pyogenes is a deadly bacteria without a vaccine. Here, researchers measured antibodies in serum and saliva from a strep throat human challenge trial. Baseline...

rdcu.be

Finally jumping into 🦋 - and what better way to do than highlighting this super thread. Wonderful to have been involved in this study with our Strep A friends across the Tasman

Dr Danika Hill@precisionvaxlab.bsky.social · 2y ago

🎉 I'm a #newPI , and I'm so excited to share our new paper out in Nature Comms today! 🧵 rdcu.be/d2gBV Quick intro for the new followers: I'm from Monash Uni in Melbourne, and we study T and B cell responses to viruses, bacteria & parasites with the goal of improving vaccines. #ImmunoSky #MicroSky