Waouh, so fantastic! 🤯

Phages communicate across species to shape microbial ecosystems Gallego-del-Sol et al. show that arbitrium-coding phages can sense non-cognate peptide signals from other phages to regulate lysis-lysogeny decisions. This crosstalk affects lysis-lysogeny outcomes of...

This paper started as an idea @albertomarina.bsky.social had many years ago… which of course means he was right all along 😄. Some of us just needed a few years (and a lot of experiments) to catch up.
Grateful (and slightly humbled) to be part of this. Thanks Alberto!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Open Positions -

Open postdoc position in my lab on HGT and interbacterial competition. We seek candidates with a PhD in microbiology (or related fields)+ strong 1st-author publications.
Curious, highly motivated, and dedicated team players ready to contribute fully are encouraged to apply. Details: tiny.cc/cz01101

Poster of the 2026 CSHA meeting on Bacterial Infection & Host Defense.

Please join us for the Cold Spring Harbor Asia @cshlnews.bsky.social meeting on Bacterial Infection & Host Defense this May 11-15 in Suzhou, China! We have a fantastic lineup of speakers. Abstract deadline is March 6. Hope to see you there!

🦠 Scientists have uncovered a previously unknown way TB survives infection. Mycobacterium tuberculosis hijacks the immune receptor Dectin-1 to persist inside cells, pointing to potential immune-based treatments.
🔗 www.science.org/doi/... #TB #Immunology #Science

Congratulations Angélique! 👏🏾

Why would Mycobacterium shed its surface right after entering a host cell? Host phagocytes rapidly strip its outer layer, releasing components that alert neighbors and trigger defense responses

Our preprint is out, curious to hear your take! 👀
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🚨 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐛, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐁 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝! 🚨

We’re thrilled to share our new study revealing how the chromatin regulator SP140 preserves protective T cell immunity during #tuberculosis infection by restraining harmful type I IFN responses.

📖 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁: shorturl.at/r5jd9

Brandeis University honors Fred Hutch molecular biologist Dr. Steven Henikoff, a molecular biologist at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, has won the prestigious Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research from Brandeis University recognizing h...

Dr. Steven Henikoff receives the 55th Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research.
www.brandeis.edu/rosenstiel/r...

(Personal note: I continue to be inspired and astonished by my postdoctoral mentor & current colleague)

Diagrams of fruit fly larvae (left) and adult (right) annotated with genes expressed in different tissues, including male- or female-biased gene expressions.

A diagram providing an overview of the regulation of antimicrobial peptide and other host effector peptides by Toll and Imd signalling, alongside diagrams showing the diversity of the peptides.

A summary table illustrating sequence features common to antimicrobial peptides, and a summary table of gene families.

A diagram giving a model for the mechanisms of antimicrobial peptide and host defence peptide actions in killing microbial cells, including precise mechanisms, broader host-pathogen relationships, and non-microbicidal roles of these peptides in protecting the host.

Bizarre that our 2020 #Drosophila #AMP review already feels out of date.

Thanks to #AnnualReviews to cover the many updates in the field and present a much more complete picture of the diversity, mechanisms, topics, of fly immunity re: host defence peptides.

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Dr. Meghan Koch from @fredhutch.org has discovered a biological mechanism sprung in the first week of life that trains a mouse pup’s #ImmuneSystem to tolerate harmless gut bugs and new foods.

⚗️ Abstract: https://bit.ly/4nt6qGh
📰 Press release: https://bit.ly/46N7vBY

Congrats Wendy, Olivier & Team! 👏🏿👏🏿

Inorganic sulfate is critical for Mycobacterium tuberculosis lung tissue colonization and redox balance | PNAS Tuberculosis remains the deadliest infectious disease caused by a single pathogen, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapies. A deeper under...

Excited to share Wendy Le Mouëllic’s PhD work, now published in @pnas.org!
It reveals that M. tuberculosis depends on inorganic sulfate import to survive inside host cells—fueling essential processes such as redox balance and stress resistance.
Huge congrats to Wendy & colleagues!
shorturl.at/WbFQC

Hello everyone! I am a postdoc in mucosal immunology and I am looking for new postdoc position in Europe! I know a lot about gut mast cells, but also CD4 T cells and type 2/3 immunity in general. I've worked with single cell sequencing and neuroimmune interactions. Feel free to share! Thank you! ♥️🥼👩‍🔬

Outstanding work outlined here demonstrating the importance of maternal breast milk antibodies for immune development from my @fredhutch.bsky.social colleague Meghan Koch.

Happy #Obliteride weekend! We had a blast kicking off year 13 of #fredhutch Obliteride tonight, an event that brings together a global community with one goal: fueling lifesaving cancer research!

See ya tomorrow at the start line, #Obliteriders! 🚴‍♀️🏃

Epigenetic silencing of interleukin-10 by host-derived oxidized phospholipids supports a lethal inflammatory response to infections Upon pathogen detection, phagocytes trigger immunity. This process induces tissue stress and the formation of host-derived molecules that further tune immune responses. We show that host-derived oxidi...

ⓅⒶⓇⒶⒹⒾⒼⓂ ⓈⒽⒾⒻⓉ

Why do some infections kill despite low pathogen burden?

Zanoni Lab (Harvard/Boston Children's) identifies a novel host-driven mechanism

Bacterial Infection → oxPLs → AKT inhibition →
EZH2-mediated IL-10 silencing → hyperinflammation

Blocking oxPLs restores IL-10 → saves the mice!

The countdown is on ... 4 days left to submit your abstract and apply for student/post-doc member travel grants for #Cytokines2025. The deadline is Monday, June 30.
seattle.cytokinesociety.org

New commentary co-authored w/ collaborators Liat Shenhav & Mike Silverman 🧪🤱🏻

We are intrigued by weaning:
- How does it affect the infant #microbiome? Immune development?
- Is it the stopping of milk, or the starting of other foods that drives these processes?

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Microbiota-derived inosine programs protective CD8+ T cell responses against influenza in newborns Stevens et al. reveal that antibiotic-induced microbiome disruption impairs infant antiviral immunity by reducing inosine levels, which disturbs CD8+ T cell programming. Remarkably, Bifidobacterium co...

Congrats, @immunojake.bsky.social & Erica Culberson DeshmukhLab @cincyresearch.bsky.social
Antibiotic-induced microbiome disruption impairs infant antiviral immunity by reducing inosine levels to disturb CD8 T programming
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
@cellcellpress.bsky.social

New tenure track assistant professor position in molecular microbiology in our department @dmf-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social! We are casting a wide net for an experimental molecular microbiologist. Apply here: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...

Replaying germinal center evolution on a quantified affinity landscape Darwinian evolution of immunoglobulin genes within germinal centers (GC) underlies the progressive increase in antibody affinity following antigen exposure. Whereas the mechanics of how competition be...

Wanted to highlight our latest preprint--a huge effort by multiple people and labs, but led primarily by @wsdewitt.github.io, Tatsuya Araki, and Ashni Vora, in a very close wet-dry collaboration with @matsen.bsky.social’s lab at the Hutch

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are happy to annouce that we have deposited at @VDRC
(ViennaDrosophila Resource Center) a list of isogenized @Drosophila immunity mutants affecting all major immune modules and effectors. We hope these strains will be useful to the community.
epfl.ch/labs/lemaitr...

- ENaC hyperactivity per se impacts flies ability to produce a vitamin D-related hormone, and consequently to produce protective AMPs.

I know Drosophila doesn’t have lungs 🫁 😉 to fully model CF pulmonary infections … but here we provide the mechanistic consequences of ENaC hyperactivity.

(3/3)

Take homes:

-CFTR-deficient flies and ENaC-overexpressing flies are both highly susceptible to infection by CF-related pathogens

- ENaC blockade in CFTR-deficient flies is sufficient to rescue their survival, suggesting that ENaC hyperactivity drives at least partially susceptibility.

(2/3)

I am delighted share our latest paper from my PhD work.

Context: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations affecting CFTR functions, leading to increased activity of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). CF favors infections by Mycobacterium abscessus and some other specific microbes.

(1/3)

Excited to share our last study. Huge congrats to Sarah Monard, Arnaud Métais, @gclugo.bsky.social, @chrisverollet.bsky.social and all colleagues!
We have found a mysterious cell type inside TB lung lesions that seems neuron-like but isn't quite a nerve cell.
Let's dive in👇

shorturl.at/x4Sb5

Thanks Marion!

Thank you @marionbrunck.bsky.social !

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me.

Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.