We are excited to have such a strong representation at Immunology 2026 hosted by the American Association of Immunologists in Boston this week. Here is a quick snapshot of where IMMCG researchers and trainees will be throughout the week.
A male college student presents to a room full of his peers and faculty.
A male college student presents to a room full of his peers and faculty.
A male college student listens to a presentation and takes notes on a laptop computer.
A female college student listens to a presentation and takes notes on a laptop computer.
Last week, Edem Bokoe, a graduate research assistant in the Gascoigne Lab under the direction of Nicholas Gascoigne, PhD, shared about his research during our weekly Research in Progress session.
@adilrasheed.bsky.social and Emily Steinbeck, a graduate research assistant in the Rasheed Lab, have shared a paper titled, "Nemo-like kinase orchestrates the PAMP and circumstance of macrophage death in sepsis."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A man stands at the front of a modern lecture hall and gives a presentation to a room full of graduate students and faculty.
A female graduate student sits in a modern lecture hall surrounded by fellow graduate students and faculty listening to a presentation by a man.
A man stands at the front of a modern lecture hall and gives a presentation to a room full of graduate students and faculty.
A male scientist sits in a modern lecture hall surrounded by fellow faculty and graduate students listening to a presentation by a man.
Thank you to Dario Vignali (@vignalilab.bsky.social) for visiting with our researchers and trainees last week. His lecture, “LAG-3: The Third Checkpoint Inhibitor and Its Synergistic Interactions with PD‑1,” proved to be a great opportunity for learning and discussion.
Last Friday, several trainees presented during Graduate Research Day, hosted by The Graduate School. The event provided a platform for our trainees to showcase their research and receive valuable feedback from peers and faculty.
More photos on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Last week, Kathy Li presented during our weekly Research In Progress series. Kathy is an MD/PhD student with the Medical College of Georgia and the Molecular Oncology and Immunology Program. She works in both the Liu and Kaplan labs, & is a part of the NIH-AU Graduate Partnership Program.
A graphic celebrating Women's History Month.
As we close in on the end of this year's Women's History Month, Catherine 'Lynn' Hedrick, PhD, about the many women who have influenced her career, from her postdoctoral mentor at UCLA to some of the pillars of women in STEM.
During last week's Research in Progress presentation, Megh Mehta, a graduate research assistant in the Ley Lab under the director of Klaus Ley, MD, shared insights into his research.
🔬 We’re hiring in in @adilrasheed.bsky.social's lab!
✅ Research Associate (Job ID: 295735)
✅ Postdoctoral Fellow (Job ID: 295734)
📩 Want to learn more?
Contact Dr. Rasheed directly at arasheed@augusta.edu
🔗 Apply here or view all current openings:
lnkd.in/e6Xg8XBZ
Lynn Hedrick, PhD, co-director of IMMCG and a Georgia Research Alliance Bradley Turner Eminent Scholar, has been selected to the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Immunology Symposium and the Board of Trustees for the Georgia Research Alliance.
🔗 bit.ly/4sUIpu6
Today is the day! The Research Power Hour is live, and if we have the most unique donors between 8 and 9 a.m., we will earn an additional $1,200. Please consider making a contribution and helping advance research at IMMCG.
🔬 give.augusta.edu/schools/Augu...
During last week's Research in Progress presentation, Farjana Sharmen, a graduate assistant in the Orecchioni Lab, shared about the research she has been conducting under the guidance of Marco Orecchioni, PhD.
Thank you to @filswirski.bsky.social for visiting with our scientists and trainees last week. Dr. Swirski, who previously visited the Medical College of Georgia prior to IMMCG's founding a few years ago, presented "Heart Brain Communication in Cardiovascular Disease" during his visit.
March is Women’s History Month and yesterday we celebrated International Women’s Day. As we take this time to celebrate the contributions of women to science, several of our researchers and trainees took some time to reflect on the women who inspired them to study the sciences.
Devadatta Gosavi recently presented his work using TIRF microscopy & sensitized FRET to investigate the spatiotemporal coordination between talin-1 & kindlin-3 to elucidate the molecular mechanisms governing β₂-integrin activation & advance understanding of immune regulation.
Last week, we were honored to host Wolfgang Bergmeier, PhD, in partnership with the Vascular Biology Center of the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Bergmeier met with faculty & students, and presented, "New insights into platelet G protein signaling and integrin affinity regulation."
Khalia Cummings recently presented her work on how Olfactory Receptor 2 signaling shapes monocyte and macrophage migration in atherosclerosis. Her research explores how Octanal from dysfunctional endothelium may act as a chemotactic signal driving vascular inflammation.
Thank you to @virusesimmunity.bsky.social, for serving as the keynote speaker for the Inaugural Margaret-Gertraud Immunology Lectureship. Her presentation, "Science Behind Failure to Recover from Infections," shared insights about the work she has contributed to several long COVID studies.
Just in time for our inaugural @immunologyau.bsky.social 2026 Inaugural Margaret-Gertraud Immunology Lectureship, happy to share a review from MarcoOrecchioni and I on human macrophage heterogeneity in atherosclerosis!
academic.oup.com/immunohorizo...
Lingxiao “Lily” Liu, a PhD student in the Biomedical Science MOI Program and member of the Chiang Lab, presented on her project, “Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Drives Acinar-to-ductal Metaplasia in Pancreatic Cancer.” Her presentation was part of our “Research In Progress” series.
🚨 New Publication Alert from the Hedrick Lab!
Live from Oxford Academic's Briefings in Bioinformatics -
"Unveiling patterns: an exploration of machine learning techniques for unsupervised feature selection in single-cell data."
Learn more: bit.ly/3MhgZ1X
Congratulations Hedrick Lab! 🎉
Read about her ground breaking research, bit.ly/49hzlaE!
Help us congratulate Aderonke in the comments!!
Congratulations ADERONKE FAKAYODE! 🎉 Keep up the great work! 🎉3/3
"A Nigerian-born researcher, Aderonke Elizabeth Fakayode, has emerged as one of the leading voices in immunology and drug discovery, following a series of groundbreaking studies that have captured the attention of the global scientific community." 2/3
🎉 Congratulations are in order!! 🎉
We are more than thrilled to start off the new year by sending a congratulations to our very own graduate student ADERONKE FAKAYODE!
Aderonke is a PhD student in Dr. Klaus Ley's Lab! 1/3
If so, and interpersonal relationships are the building blocks of communities, may one argue a connection between immunology and healthy communities? Can immunology help illustrate how the social detriments of health impact the creation of healthy communities? 2/3
🧠 Interesting read from Trends in Immunology, "Immunology as a guide to human relationships".
Is there a connection between immunology and interpersonal relationships? 1/3
Picture of Catherine 'Lynn' Hedrick, Nicholas Gascoigne, and Klaus Ley.
Drs. Catherine 'Lynn' Hedrick, Klaus Ley, and Nicholas Gascoigne were honored as endowed chairs at the Medical College of Georgia's Investiture Ceremony.
All three professors received medallions to honor their commitment to the mission and future of MCG!
