Congratulations to Drs. Dario Vignali @vignalilab.bsky.social and Sarah Gaffen @slg1717.bsky.social ( @pittdeptofmed.bsky.social) on being recognized as 2026 Distinguished fellows yesterday at @aai.org #IMMUNOLOGY2026!

Congratulations to recent PMI graduate Morgan Jackson-Strong from the @gottschalklab.bsky.social on her new paper!

Congratulations to PMI student @febrigunawan48.bsky.social from Dr. Renfeng Li's laboratory on his upcoming PhD thesis defense! 🎉 🎈

Dr. Miriam Merad (Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai) will present "Macrophages Key Guardians of Tissue Health and Drivers of Diseases" at our next #Eberly Distinguished Lectureship in #Immunology! @pitt-pmi.bsky.social See you Thurs., April 23rd at noon in the Assembly Auditorium or Zoom!

Next up in our trainee spotlight series is Katelyn Wolfgang, a @pitt-pmi.bsky.social graduate student in the @overacrelab.bsky.social lab who studies how a commensal gut bacterium drives the formation of tertiary lymphoid structures in the colon: www.immunology.pitt.edu/news/trainee...

Congratulations to PMI student @emmamills1.bsky.social from the @dariavantyne.bsky.social lab on her upcoming PhD thesis! 👏 🎉

Now out in AEM @asm.org! 🎉🧪 *High school student-isolated mutants 👉🏻 novel genetic causes of biofilm-associated adaptations *We learn how diversity arises quickly and is maintained *EvolvingSTEM enables scalable research in classrooms & promotes scientific literacy journals.asm.org/eprint/FBU9M...

Congratulations to PMI student Lizzie Giacobe on winning second place & people’s choice in the 2026 School of Medicine Three Minute Thesis (3MT)!

Our latest trainee spotlight features Kellie Spahr, a @pitt-pmi.bsky.social graduate student in the @delgoffelab.bsky.social whose research focuses on understanding how exhausted T cells rewire their metabolism. Read the Q&A here: www.immunology.pitt.edu/news

Congratulations to PMI student Sean Wang from Will DePas’ lab on his upcoming thesis defense!

PMI Professor and @asm.org President-Elect @vscooper.micropopbio.org met with congressional staff last week to advocate for science and public health. 👏🏼

Congratulations to PMI’s own Dr. Anthony St. Leger on his recent work published in Cell Reports!

In a #BriefReview, Joanne Flynn discusses the current understanding of roles for different CD8+ lymphocyte subsets in responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and implications for novel vaccine and therapeutic development. Read it here: https://ow.ly/9eZo50Yn61C#BriefReview

New research by Jishnu Das, grad students Javad Rahimikollu & Priyamvada Guha Roy et al. sheds light on genetic and molecular differences between two subtypes of #RheumatoidArthritis. Learn more immunology.pitt.edu/news/new-stu... & read the study acrjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

JCI - α4 integrin blockade impairs CD8 T cell neuroimmune surveillance following SIV infection www.jci.org/articles/vie... #Neuroimmunology #HIV #SIV #Neuroscience #Immunology #JCI #TCell #Integrin #CNS #Research

Given that clonal biofilms of single bacterial species rapidly diversify into niche specialists, how do biofilms of multiple species evolve? A 🧵 featuring new collaborative pubs: 1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 2. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper in insight.jci.org by my & Ling Lin’s groups! TB is the most common infectious disease that causes death, causing >1 million deaths globally. HIV is the greatest risk factor for TB, causing worse clinical outcomes for both infections. We studied the effect of SIV infection 1/4

Insights: Kane provides commentary on a new study from Golec et al. (rupress.org/jem/article/...), which reports that a mutation of PI-3 kinase underlying APDS impairs type 2 immunity. rupress.org/jem/article/... #Immunodeficiency #LymphocyteBiology

Congratulations to @pitt-pmi.bsky.social graduate Morgan Jackson-Strong and faculty member @gottschalklab.bsky.social !

Hello BGSA Community, The BGSA is excited to invite you to an afternoon of bowling at Arsenal Lanes in Lawrenceville on Saturday, February 21st from 12:00-3:00 PM! Light food and drinks will be provided. We have 18 spots available, so sign-ups will be first-come, first-served. Grab your spot!

Stay warm out there, everyone!

Double distinction! Our chair Dr. Dario Vignali (@vignalilab.bsky.social ) & Dr. Sarah Gaffen (@slg1717.bsky.social), primary faculty in @pittdeptofmed.bsky.social, will be recognized as Distinguished Fellows of @aai.org at #IMMUNOLOGY2026 in April. Congrats, Drs. Vignali & Gaffen! bit.ly/45WuLhl

Congratulations to PMI student Jenna Nosek from the DeLuca lab, who will be defending her thesis next week! 👏

Read the story behind SLIDE, an interpretable ML tool from Jishnu Das, @poholeklab.bsky.social and colleagues that infers hidden factors to explain biological outcomes—not just correlations. Already uncovering mechanisms in #T1D, #scleroderma, #asthma & more! www.immunology.pitt.edu/news/slidein...

Congratulations to PMI student Zac Ingram from the @zandrea.bsky.social lab on his upcoming thesis defense! 👏

Congratulations to Jishnu Das for his promotion to Associate Professor with tenure! Learn more about Dr. Das and his work: www.immunology.pitt.edu/news/jishnu-...

Congratulations to PMI student Sean Wang and PMI faculty member Dr. Will DePas on their recent paper!

Congratulations to PMI student Xay Somoulay from the @dermodylab.bsky.social on his upcoming thesis defense!

Congratulations to PMI faculty member Dr. Tony Cillo from @pitt-immunology.bsky.social on being selected by the Dean to give a presentation for one of the most significant health sciences publications from Pitt in 2024!

We are excited to celebrate PMI students’ amazing research at the 4th Annual PMI Day!

Congratulations to @nanamikubota.bsky.social in the @vscooper.micropopbio.org lab on her upcoming thesis defense! 👏

Congratulations to former PMI student @adforu.bsky.social and current PMI faculty @mcfreeid.bsky.social !

Congratulations to @vignalilab.bsky.social, @delgoffelab.bsky.social, Sally Wenzel and Simon Watkins for making the #Clarivate #HighlyCited2025 list, recognizing their broad and significant influence in their fields! clarivate.com/highly-cited...

Congrats to Megan Freeman, Kelsey Schweiberger, and Vikram Raghu for their recent elections to the Society for Pediatric Research! Read more about it on our newsfeed here: www.pediatrics.pitt.edu/news/three-n... @news.upmc.com @pittdeptofmed.bsky.social @socpedresearch.bsky.social

Behind the Scenes: Dr. Mark Shlomchik and Dr. Sebastien Gingras of @pitt-immunology.bsky.social discuss data that led to the discovery that divergent signaling domains in TLR7 and TLR9 control their opposing effects on lupus.

Do you know an undergrad at Pitt, Chatham University, or @cmu.edu who hasn't had opportunities for hands-on research? Please encourage them to apply for the Microbiology and Immunology Departments (MID) Scholars Program! Learn more and apply: lnkd.in/eT-gYTqR

PMI faculty Drs. Paul Duprex and @vscooper.micropopbio.org spoke at a ceremony honoring the University of Pittsburgh’s legacy in the development of the polio vaccine.

Congratulations, Kenya! 🎉

Congratulations to Morgan Jackson-Strong from the @gottschalklab.bsky.social who will defend her thesis in a few weeks! 👏

From CMU grad to global immunology leader 🦠 Congrats to @slg1717.bsky.social, winner of the 2025 @cmu.edu Alumni Achievement Award for her trailblazing research on IL-17 and immune defense! 🧫 Her groundbreaking IL-17 research has transformed the field of immunology and improved lives worldwide.

Thrilled to share my promotion to Associate Professor with tenure at @pitt-immunology.bsky.social! Huge thanks to my incredible lab, collaborators, department, colleagues, family & friends. Science is a team effort, and I'm so proud of our work & excited for what's next! Stay tuned!

Today!

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!