Too much data, too little thinking. A important essay from Ruslan Medzhitov on the importance of understanding data, not just generating it. A must read. @Yale www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Rhinoviruses cause common cold & asthma attacks but are also often benign. Using nasal organoids, we learned how the community of cells in the lining the nasal passages coordinates to respond to rhinovirus and which responses lead to excess mucus & inflammation. www.cell.com/cell-press-b...

Thrilled to share our new preprint showing that dietary amino acids license the NLRP3 inflammasome via mTOR-dependent mRNA translation! Congrats to co-1st authors @mikelhaggadone.bsky.social, Brian Goldspiel, co-senior author @metabailism.bsky.social & collaborators! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

💥New paper alert!💥 What’s better than starting 2026 with an @annualreviews.bsky.social #Immunology, often a once-in-a-life honor ❤️?! Check it out if you want to know everything about type III interferons #IFN! Thanks to my wonderful team for their amazing work 🤗 doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Evidence continues building that oxidized lipids drive inflammasome activities in health and disease.  A beautiful study shows a link to multiple sclerosis, with a role for inflammasomes and IL-1 in pathology.  Kudos to the authors on this exciting discovery. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#InflammasomePower! 💥New paper alert💥 How is NLPR3 primed & activated in chronic non-communicable inflammatory diseases? With @oceanedufies.bsky.social &co we show that chronic exposure to oxPAPC drives NRF2 activation that primes & activates NLRP3 sustaining #atherosclerosis in mice & humans! 👇👇👇

Check out our new publication, a collaboration with Giovanni Luchetti and Vishva Dixit @ Genentech. We show that the E.coli effector NleL inhibits intestinal epithelial cell extrusion after #inflammasome activation via degrading the kinases ROCK1 and 2!! www.nature.com/articles/s41... Explainer 1/8

It’s #BlackInMicro week! This year’s theme is HARMONY and we have a great program scheduled. You can find more info on our website: blackinmicrobiology.org. Register for free to check it out. Everyone is welcome! 🦠

#DAMPsPower! Balachandran, Yin &co show @nature.com that upon influenza #IAV or herpes #HSV1 virus infection, ZBP1 induces cell death by sensing #host-derived endogenous retroelement Z-RNAs produced in response to virulence factors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#LiveForever! Chen, Mao &co show @science.org that not all #cGAS are equals & that naked mole-rats one bears a 4 amino acid mutation which enhances DNA repair & when transferred in aged mice dampens frailty, hair graying, inflammatory & senescence markers! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

It’s Discovery Research Week! Every day, the bold work of our U-M researchers and scientists points the way to life-changing treatments and cures patients and families need. Visit victors.us/researchsep25 Please consider supporting the work of departments like M&I.

Thrilled to share my work from the @jkagan1.bsky.social lab! TLDR: O-acetylation and wall teichoic acid compete for space on S. aureus peptidoglycan. This competition regulates DNA release, and thus immune receptor activation, during infection! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #microsky #immunosky

The mechanism of STING NF-κB signaling has remained a mystery. An exciting new study from the Paludan lab now uses data throughout animal STING evolution to provide new answers – including isolating white blood cells from turtles and carp! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An NLRP3 stimulatory universal influenza vaccine. We report an NLRP3 stimulus that generates hyperactive dendritic cells (hDCs). journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

💥 #ImmunometabolismPower! Excited to have this officially out @cp-immunity.bsky.social 💥 We show that pathogens induce the host to produce oxidized lipids which rewire the #metabolism of #macrophages, causing #epigenetic modifications which dampen anti-inflammatory IL-10, exacerbating #inflammation!

The recent cuts to federal mRNA research funding are killing our best chance to cure cancer. Read my OP-ED on this topic in BioSpace, linked below. www.biospace.com/drug-develop...

Why does RNA undergo glycosylation? Excited to have our paper out. We in collab w/ Ryan Flynn @raflynn5.bsky.social show N-glycans on glycoRNA hide self-RNA from endosomal TLRs promoting silent removal of dead cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @uconnresearch.bsky.social @uconnhealth.bsky.social

Sometimes the news is actually worth reading. "Senate panel rejects Trump cuts to NIH, other health agencies" l.smartnews.com/p-5Vc5EAFi/f...

Extra kudos and thanks to all the staff at NIH and NSF and other federal funding agencies for working extra hard in very small windows of opportunity to get grants reviewed and funds released before the attention-addled federal policies change again (on an hourly basis).

Everything you wanted to know about oxidized lipids & immunity, in one review. We explain how oxidized lipids impact inflammation, dendritic cells, anti-tumor immunity and more. Kudos to Joon Choi for his exceptional work. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

MyD88 cell biology explored in yeast. The fantastic @VictorJCid and colleagues reveal an unexpected variety of organelles MyD88 can bind in budding yeast. Kudos to all authors on this exciting finding. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

No better time to call or email your members of Congress. Next year’s NIH budget is being debated in the Senate. A new nonpartisan campaign is making it easy to defend science and protect America’s innovation. Just follow this link to contact your representatives: www.protectscienceandinnovation.org

#EpigeneticPower! 💥 #NewPaperAlert! We show @cp-immunity.bsky.social that endogenous oxidized lipids decide whether host survives or dies during #sepsis, #ARDS, or Staph infection! Ox lipids bind & inhibit #AKT, boosting inhibitory H3K27 methylation via EZH2 & blocking #IL10!

A new function for an ancient innate immune stimulus. Zanoni et al report that oxidized lipids control IL-10 expression, impacting host defense and disease. Kudos to the authors on this important discovery www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#WeekendRead! #NoTimeToDie! #InterferonPower! Wang &co show @cp-molcell.bsky.social that MLKL not only drives #necroptosis but also directly triggers IFNb production by releasing mitochondrial DNA & activating cGAS-#STING, which exacerbates #colitis! www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Beyond excited to share our #NewPaper in @cellcellpress.bsky.social! Inflamed environments acidify intracellular #pH. BRD4 senses this via transcriptional condensates, tuning #macrophage responses to match demand and consequences of #inflammation authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

🎉 Over the moon to share the first paper from my lab!! We discovered an unexpected role for the cytokine OSM in lung epithelial homeostasis and repair. 🧵 1/n www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Please spread the word and apply for the A Oveta Fuller award!

Thrilled that our latest paper showing that DCs undergo either pyroptosis or apoptosis upon bacterial blockade of host translation to restrict Legionella is now online at the @asm.org journal mBio! Congrats to 1st author @vvazquez.bsky.social & co-authors! 🎉 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... Every $1 spent on NIH funding returns nearly $3 to the economy - an almost 200% return on investment💰. Also 99% of drugs developed 2010-2019 were funded by NIH ‼️🤯 Cutting NIH funding not only hurts the economy but will hurt families and patients 😔💔

Cutting $20 billion to NIH over 25 years may save $500 billion on paper, but it’d end up costing $8.2 trillion in lost human health. But NIH isn't the only thing being cut. The budget also slashes all NSF-funded science by 73 percent. NASA faces “the biggest single-year cut to NASA in history."

Are there spatial restrictions in NLRP3 #inflammasome activation? I am super excited to share our new study spearheaded by amazing @elvirab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The 80-year recipe stoking America’s Prosperity: 1) Free-market capital investments in brilliant ideas… 2) enabled by Engineering Innovations… 3) based on Science Research in Universities… 4) funded by Grants from the US Government. It’s time more people understood this.

To all the smart finance experts in government, an FYI. 50% reduction in federal science funding would reduce the US GDP by 8%. The housing economy crash in 2008 dropped US GDP by 3.8%. It's the economy stupid.

The first PhD student in my lab has successfully defended her dissertation! Congratulations, Dr. Parameswaran!!!

The Trump Administration's slashing of USAID funds have cut deeply into RTP-based nonprofits dedicated to preventing infectious disease outbreaks. www.wunc.org/2025-05-05/t...

I am so grateful to have happy news to share: This summer I'll join @umichmicroimmuno.bsky.social as an assistant professor. The Barnett Lab is opening July 1, where we'll study cell death, damage, and inflammation in viral infection. We'll be hiring at all levels-- stay tuned! GO BLUE!

Use this link to write to your representatives as often as possible!! secure.everyaction.com/1ExSmGrI2kqH...

#WeekendRead! #NotOnlyInterferons! @nanyanlab.bsky.social &co show @cp-molecularcell.bsky.social that other than inducing pathogenic IFNs in lysosomal storage disorders, STING also play protective functions as a proton channel activating TFEB & inducing lysosomal repair www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024. That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved. Show me a better investment than that. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

We report today that the structurally complex PAMP LPS can be broken down to a simple pattern that is detected by the innate immune receptor caspase-11. This pattern is a lipid containing a negative charged headgroup + acyl chain ≥14 carbons. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#InterferonFriendOrFoe?! Klein @kahlenberglab.bsky.social &co show Science Immunology that UV drives mitochondrial Z-DNA to induce type I & III IFNs in keratinocytes. IFN-I upregulates ZBP1 that binds Z-DNA activating cGAS-STING to boost IFNs, photosensitivity & inflammation in #Lupus skin!

Increasing evidence for the central role of peroxisomes in antiviral immunity. A new study provides in vivo evidence to support a role for peroxisomes in SARS-COV-2 infection. Kudos to the authors on this important study. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

NEXT FRIDAY March 7! Raleigh NC. I'll be there. Join me! 🧪 RT @standupforscience.bsky.social #StandUpforScience #SciComm #Science

The @asm.org Journals Committee has published a response to the recent disruptions in science in the US... A call for the United States to continue investing in science | mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Another way to publicize the importance of scientific research is through campus media--reach out and engage 🧪 www.dailytarheel.com/article/2025...

Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/s...

We are hearing of program officers being fired at NIH now. The infrastructure to support science across all states red and blue is fading fast I fear. Please contact your representatives. We need nuance!

Dear Virology Community, please see ASV’s statement to our members and the scientific community. asv.org/asv-statemen...