Pitt Scientists Engineer “Living Eye Drop” to Support Corneal Healing Pitt Scientists Engineer “Living Eye Drop” to Support Corneal Healing

👀Ex-eye-ting research from Anthony St. Leger, associate professor of @pittophthalmology.bsky.social and @pitt-immunology.bsky.social! He and his team have developed a "living eye drop" that uses a genetically modified eye bacterium to boost healing. Read more: www.upmc.com/media/news/0...

Toward a consensus on the tumor microbiota: Evidence, standards, and interpretation Tumors across diverse organs harbor microbial communities that can shape cancer biology and therapeutic responses, yet the field remains polarized by technical and interpretive challenges. In this com...

Toward a consensus on the tumor microbiota: Evidence, standards, and interpretation: Cancer Cell www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...

Learn more about Dr. Gottschalk bit.ly/4bj0TOU, Dr. Hinterleitner bit.ly/3OCSr4o, and Dr. Meisel bit.ly/4aWO9MA (2/2)

Graphic announcing Dr. Rachel Gottschalk's promotion to associate professor

Graphic announcing Dr. Reinhard Hinterleitner's promotion to associate professor

Graphic announcing Dr. Marlies Meisel's promotion to associate professor

Good things come in threes! Please join us in congratulating @gottschalklab.bsky.social, @rh-lab.bsky.social, and @meisellab.bsky.social on promotion to associate professor! (1/2)

Image of Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology paper, "The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of gut health," by Maria L. Marco, Marla Cunningham, Stephan C. Bischoff, Gerard Clarke, Nathalie Delzenne, James D. Lewis, Marlies Meisel, Daniel Merenstein, Paul W. O'Toole, Heidi M. Staudacher, Hania Szajewska, Jerry M. Wells, and Eamonn M. M. Quigley.

What is gut health? A new consensus statement in @natrevgastrohep.nature.com , co-authored by @meisellab.bsky.social, finally defines it—and outlines a framework for research and clinical practice. Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cell Symposia: Hallmarks of cancer

We're excited to host a distinguished lineup of speakers at @CellSymposia #CSHallmarks2026, including keynote speakers @johannajoyce.bsky.social & Faisal Mahmood @harvardmed.bsky.social. View the full speaker lineup: http://dlvr.it/TPbBpQ

Physical activity and the reduction of all-cause mortality, from 2 very large prospective cohorts
1. The relationship is non-linear, suggesting a threshold effect for many types of exercise as seen below

Cell Symposia: Hallmarks of cancer

We're excited to host a distinguished lineup of speakers at @CellSymposia #CSHallmarks2026, including keynote speakers @johannajoyce.bsky.social & Faisal Mahmood @harvardmed.bsky.social. View the full speaker lineup: http://dlvr.it/TPbBpk

Exercise-induced microbiota metabolite enhances CD8 T cell antitumor immunity promoting immunotherapy efficacy Exercise enhances antitumor immunity and immunotherapy effectiveness by increasing microbiota-derived formate, which boosts CD8 T cell function and may serve as a biomarker of melanoma suppression.

maybe the microbiota 😉 www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Preview @cp-immunity.bsky.social
Cutting the Gordian knot: Untangling gasdermin C from pyroptosis
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
on
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

Thanks for highlighting our work!

Congrats, @catmphelps.bsky.social !

Catherine Phelps!

Congratulations to PMI student @catmphelps.bsky.social who is the recipient of the 23rd Stephen L. Phillips Scientific Achievement award for a Pitt School of Medicine graduate student who authored the best peer-review scientific journal author this year!

🔬 OBS Seminar

Shaping CD8+ T Cell Response Through Microbiota Metabolites
🗣️ Joseph Stevens @cincyresearch.bsky.social @cincykidsallergyim.bsky.social
🗣️@catmphelps.bsky.social @meisellab.bsky.social

🗓️ Thu, September 4th, 11 AM EDT, 3 pm GMT, 5 pm CET

👇 us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

No strain, no formate gains - Nature Reviews Cancer In a study published in Cell, Phelps et al. find a mechanism connecting exercise, gut microbiota and anti-tumour immunity; exercise induces microbiota to produce formate, which in turn enhances CD8+ T cell functionality.

#ResearchHighlight

In a study published in #Cell, Phelps et al. find a mechanism connecting exercise, gut microbiota & anti-tumour immunity; exercise induces microbiota to produce formate, which in turn enhances CD8+ T cell functionality.

👇

Congratulations to the team! Excited to see the study in print!!

Gasdermin C cleavage by Cathepsin S modulates Rab7 vesicles in intestinal epithelial cells to amplify anti-helminth immunity Pandey et al. identify Cathepsin S (CTSS) as the direct protease that cleaves Gasdermin C (GsdmC) in the intestine. Type 2 immune-promoting microbes trigger CTSS-dependent GsdmC activation in intestin...

Excited to share our new publication in collaboration with Yi-Nan Gong: Gasdermin C cleavage by Cathepsin S modulates Rab7 vesicles in intestinal epithelial cells to amplify anti-helminth immunity: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

congrats Alex!

Headshots of Dr. Marlies Meisel and Catherine Phelps side by side.

AAI Members in the News! For her grad thesis with Dr. Marlies Meisel at ‪@pittdeptofmed.bsky.social‬, ‪@catmphelps.bsky.social‬ showed how #exercise improves #cancer outcomes and enhances the response to #immunotherapy in mice by reshaping the gut #microbiome
🔗 www.medschool.pitt.edu/news/gut-mic...

Amazing! Congratulations Ruth

Thanks @nature.com for highlighting our recent study #exercise #microbiota #cancer

Exercise helps fight cancer – and we may finally know why Exercise seems to help prevent cancer and reduce the growth of tumours, and that protective effect may be due to the way working out changes the gut microbiome

Exercise seems to help prevent cancer and reduce the growth of tumours, but until now, we didn’t know why. The key seems to lie in the gut’s microbiome.

Exercise enhances antitumor immunity and immunotherapy effectiveness by increasing microbiota-derived formate, which boosts CD8 T cell function and may serve as a biomarker of melanoma suppression @cellcellpress.bsky.social @catmphelps.bsky.social @meisellab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

📄🧫🔬🐭What are you reading this weekend? Check out @catmphelps.bsky.social, @meisellab.bsky.social, et al’s brand new work! #H2P

thanks Ruth!

Gut Microbes Key to Understanding How Exercise Boosts Cancer Immunity Gut Microbes Key to Understanding How Exercise Boosts Cancer Immunity

www.upmc.com/media/news/0...

Exercise-induced microbiota metabolite enhances CD8 T cell antitumor immunity promoting immunotherapy efficacy Exercise enhances antitumor immunity and immunotherapy effectiveness by increasing microbiota-derived formate, which boosts CD8 T cell function and may serve as a biomarker of melanoma suppression.

Now online! Exercise-induced microbiota metabolite enhances CD8 T cell antitumor immunity promoting immunotherapy efficacy

I am BEYOND excited to share that my PhD thesis research is officially published in @cellpress.bsky.social today.

Read on for an exciting story about how #exercise promotes antitumor #immunity by modulating behavior of the #microbiome 🏃‍♀️🦠

authors.elsevier.com/c/1lPCrL7PXu...

How exercise works through the gut microbiome to enhance response to cancer immunotherapy
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @cellpress.bsky.social

Very proud of first-author @catmphelps@bsky.social and other lab members!
Thanks to our collaborators @gottschalklab.bsky.social, zarourhm.bsky.social, especially @rh-lab.bsky.social many more (not on bsky)