Published in Current Biology! P. aeruginosa can use its filamentous phage to inhibit competitors but high phage production is susceptible to cheater miniphage invasion. Subsequent phage tragedy of the commons can lower bacteria and phage fitness. Link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...

Catch Dr. Robert Binder's talk tomorrow at the Cell Stress Society International @stresscell.bsky.social symposium in Syracuse, NY. He'll be discussing his research on the importance of heat shock proteins for #cancer #immunosurveillance

Check out PMI talks tomorrow at the SOM Grad Student Symposium: @catmphelps.bsky.social (in @meisellab.bsky.social ), Daria Jelic (Doug Reed lab), Kelsey Ertwine (Abby Overacre lab), @febrigunawan48.bsky.social (in Renfeng Li lab), and @dariavantyne.bsky.social !

Congratulations to Dr. Alok Joglekar for receiving the inaugural Common Mechanisms of Autoimmunity Insight Award to investigate a potential new treatment for autoimmune diseases such as #lupus #type1diabetes and #multiplesclerosis buff.ly/D1yctIl

Two days left for the 2025 GSR Symposium!! GSRS 2025 Biomedical Image of the Year 3rd Place: Daria Jelic (PMI) Ferret Cerebellum Sialic Acid Histochemistry #sciencenerds #imaging #biomedicalresearch #bgsa #studentorg

Congratulations to PMI and @pittdeptofmed.bsky.social professor @dariavantyne.bsky.social for receiving the 22nd annual Distinguished Mentor of the Year at the University Pittsburgh School of Medicine for her outstanding mentorship of PhD students & junior scientists!

Congratulations to PMI student Hye Mi Kim, who was a runner up for this year’s Most Well Rounded Student award for a Pitt School of Medicine graduate student who is an excellent student and contributes to the greater community!

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!

🎉 Only 7 days left until the 30th GSRS! 🎉 Get ready for Pitt’s biggest student-led research showcase. Hear a special message from our directors and join us in celebrating a milestone of discovery, collaboration, and innovation. #GSRS30 #PittMed #GradSymposium #Countdown #StudentResearch #ScienceComm

Congratulations to Paul Zdinak from the @alokjoglekar.bsky.social lab, who will be defending his thesis next Tuesday!

Congratulations to Sean Roberts from Dr. Mark Shlomchik's lab who will defend his thesis on Monday! 🎉

Congratulations to @pitt-pmi.bsky.social PI Dr. Tullia Bruno for her new award from the V Foundation to further her work unlocking the potential of B cells to treat ovarian cancer.

The BGSA Community Outreach Committee and Greater Hazelwood Neighborhood Commitment at Pitt are collaborating to bring a new student-driven lecture series to Hazel Grove Brewing this fall: Sip of Science.

This series will provide graduate students with the opportunity to engage with residents of the Hazelwood neighborhood and communicate what scientists do and how their research contributes to improving human health in a concise, informal talk tailored for a non-scientific audience.

Dr. Ananda Goldrath (Allen Institute for Immunology) will present "Thinking about the immune system in tissues across space & time" at our next #Eberly Distinguished Lectureship in #Immunology!! @pitt-pmi.bsky.social See you Thurs., Oct. 16th at noon in the Assembly Building Auditorium or Zoom!

So proud of my friend and colleague @mccarthy-kr.bsky.social on giving an outstanding lecture on his research in the Senior Vice Chancellor's Research Seminar Series today! 👏

Open tenure track assistant- or associate-level faculty position in the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Vaccine Research. Great science, great facilities, great colleagues - come work with us! jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/674888/f...

Congratuations to PMI student Jessica Medrano co-mentored by Drs. Philana Ling Lin and @zandrea.bsky.social ! Woo hoo 🎉 !

Congratulations to PMI student Luzmariel Medina Sanchez from @rh-lab.bsky.social who will defend her PhD thesis tomorrow morning! 🎉

Welcome to the incoming Program in Microbiology and Immunology PhD students! We are so excited to see you in Pittsburgh and we can’t wait to see all the incredible science you’ll do here! 🧪 🎉

We are so excited to welcome our incoming 2025 SOM grad students to our community #orientation #phd #bgsa #som

Congratulations to @aleciarokes.bsky.social from the @vscooper.micropopbio.org lab on her thesis defense next week! Way to go, Alecia!

Our lab just completed a +6 year #marathon, describing for the first time that the #microbiome is critical for #exercise - induced increases in antitumor CD8 T cell immunity and improved of #cancer #immunotherapy. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

It's seem like arginine is emerging as a major host cue. So we wrote an IAI minireview on how arginine levels vary between host tissues and affect microbial behavior. The review is online today! journals.asm.org/doi/epdf/10.... @brookeeryan3.bsky.social #microsky

Newest paper from the lab! Congrats to Dr. Mueller Brown on the first publication of her postdoc...many more to come... nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

💥 Couldn’t be more stoked our study identifying a completely new CMV virion surface complex involved in cell entry is now published at Nature Micro 🦠 H/T @paramyxologist.bsky.social + Lauren Henderson, Erica Ollmann Saphire Chris Benedict @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Alecia Rokes @aleciarokes.bsky.social History Shapes Regulatory and Evolutionary Responses to Tigecycline in Strains of Acinetobacter baumannii from the Pre- and Post-Antibiotic Eras Session Title: Predicting Microbial Evolution Sat 6/21/2025 8:15-10:15

2. Sean Yu-Hao Wang w/ Will DePas: Understanding how CF Pulmonary Chemical Environment Impacts Nontuberculous Mycobacteria Biofilm Formation MBP-06-Biofilms, Symbiosis and Interbacterial Competition 6/20 10:30-11:30 and 4-5p, RapidFire 11:45-12

PMI students presenting at ASM Microbe!

Congratulations to Leigh Miller in the Alcorn Lab in @pittpediatrics.bsky.social for her upcoming thesis defense!

This story is finally out! Deletion of E from some coronaviruses abolishes virus production & infectivity (MERS-CoV). Deletion in others merely attenuates replication (SARS-CoV). Turns out SARS2 is like SARS1. We asked how a virus can tolerate removal of a structural protein involved in 1/

Congratulations to PMI MSTP student Eric Weiss from the @danhkaplan.bsky.social lab on his upcoming PhD thesis defense!

Is a career in clinical or public health microbiology right for you? @asm.org

not posting much these days…but this is just too positive not to share- 2 of my trainees (current) Catherine (@Catmphelps.bsky.social) and (former) Mackenzie received the AAI Trainee Achievement Award! Could not be prouder…#WomeninSTEM

Proud to announce a new publication from the lab: EvoWeaver: large-scale prediction of gene functional associations from coevolutionary signals www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨 New paper out! "A single mutation in an enteric virus alters tropism and sensitivity to microbiota" One tiny change, big consequences. A great collab with the Julie Pfeiffer lab! @jkpfeiff.bsky.social Read here: bit.ly/42sD2rX #Virology #Microbiome #Science

Pitt innovators were issued 102 U.S. patents in the calendar year 2024.

Check out this great news publication from Melissa Kane, PhD, and her research lab: www.pediatrics.pitt.edu/news/kane-pu... @upmc.com @pittdeptofmed.bsky.social

Excited to share our latest, out today in @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social Bacteriocin production facilitates nosocomial emergence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium www.nature.com/articles/s41... @idpittstop.bsky.social

At #ASMicrobe 2025, Yuan Chang, M.D., from the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Comprehensive Cancer Institute, will present “Molecular Discovery of Human Tumor Viruses.” Register now to attend—early registration rates end March 19! asm.social/2k3

@pitt-pmi.bsky.social PhD student Zac Ingram's @asm.org #mBio paper is out! His study shows that sequential binding of host proteins CypA and CPSF6 to HIV-1 capsid is required for optimal nuclear entry, integration, and infection. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Please consider donating to keep our Microbiology and Immunology Diversity Scholars (MIDS) program going to engage undergraduate students in STEM!

🧪🧬🖥️ new paper: Tandem Repeats Provide Evidence for Convergent Evolution to Similar Protein Structures (doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...). You can also see the video explainer here: wrightlabscience.com/publications

Please consider donating to keep our Microbiology and Immunology Diversity Scholars (MIDS) program going to engage undergraduate students in STEM!

Congratulations to former PMI student Ayana Ruffin on her new first author publication from her time in Tullia Bruno's laboratory!

In a new study by Simonson, @joanneflynn19.bsky.social et al., antibody depletion of select lymphocytes in rhesus macaques demonstrates key roles for CD4+ T cells and CD8α+ lymphocytes in conferring sterilizing immunity against #tuberculosis following i.v. BCG vaccination. https://buff.ly/4gxWbfR

Did you know that the first emergency medical service in the U.S. was started in Pittsburgh by 25 Black men? Come find out more next week from a former EMT! #HappyBlackHistoryMonth

Did you know? In 1968, 24 Black men in Pittsburgh revolutionized emergency medicine. The Freedom House Ambulance Service was established to provide emergency medical care to underserved Black neighborhoods—creating the world’s first paramedics.

In celebration of Black History Month, PMI is partnering with OGP for a special seminar by Mr. John Moon, a former Freedom House emergency medical technician and retired Assistant Chief of Pittsburgh EMS. We hope you'll join us!

What influence does evolutionary history have on basal transcriptomes? On transcriptomic response to drug? On genetic paths for drug resistance? On fitness tradeoffs? Check out our latest preprint to find out! By @aleciarokes.bsky.social @asantoslopez.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...