@uvaresearch.bsky.social and the CIC have a great showing at this year's Southeastern Immunology Symposium! 46 of our faculty and trainees made the trip to Asheville to present and discuss cutting-edge immunology research.

On World Ovarian Cancer Day, we’re spotlighting UVA’s Dr. Melanie Rutkowski, whose research on the microbiome and immune resistance is opening new doors for ovarian cancer treatment—backed by a $700K Victoria’s Secret grant. #NoWomanLeftBehind https://ow.ly/J0Bn50YVLzU

➡️Read the article: Cancer-Specific B Cells Predict MCC Disease Outcomes buff.ly/QVcnt4b ➡️Then, read the commentary: B cells and TLS are integral to the cancer immunity cycle buff.ly/9wAGn61 @justintaylorlab.bsky.social @mc3-institute.bsky.social @uvaimmunology.bsky.social

Today, in #preprinthub2 Michelle @uvaimmunology.bsky.social will present a #preprint from Maria José Sá and Carles Ubeda labs on how gut #microbiome changes over the course of multiple sclerosis differentially influence #autoimmune #neuroinflammation 🥦🧩🦠 #immunosky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Today, in #preprinthub2 Chloe and Meredith @uvaimmunology.bsky.social will present a #preprint from the Martin Vaeth lab @uni-wuerzburg.de on how the glucose transporter GLUT3 controls #Treg function 🍬🚡🕹️ #immunosky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thanks to the Beirne Carter Foundation’s generosity, we will soon launch the Human ImmunoPhenotyping Initiative! Founded by Beirne Carter (left) & now led by Rossie Hutcheson (right), the BCF continues to advance our mission to improve patient care through immunology research.

Resident member @rutkowskilab.bsky.social was featured in this week's @uvahealth.bsky.social Research in Motion video! "We are hoping to catalyze our discoveries into paradigm-shifting immune therapies, not only for cancer patients, but also other diseases in which the microbiome is dysregulated."

The CIC has a new member: Anny Zhou, PhD! Zhou joined @UVA from @BrighamWomens last year, bringing over 16 years of research in translational genomics in pulmonary diseases. Welcome, Anny! Read more: www.immunology.virginia.edu/member-updat...

CIC research has a global impact: @jie-immunology.bsky.social and his team appeared in a Tokyo Broadcasting System news segment on COVID-19 research and funding! www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYrb...

Resident member Melanie Rutkowski, PhD, received a Victoria's Secret Global Fund for Women's Cancers Rising Innovator Grant! She will study the "cancer-bacterial alliance" that inhibits immune therapies in ovarian cancer. Congratulations, Melanie! More: www.immunology.virginia.edu/rutkowski_vs...

Resident member Michael Brown, PhD, received an NIH grant to study how two receptors on natural killer cells combine to confer 'elite' protection against viral infection, including against HIV/AIDS. Congratulations! Read more: www.immunology.virginia.edu/mbrown-r01-2...

There are two open positions in the CIC: Research Scientist, McNamara Lab: jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0... Research Scientist, Ewald lab: jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0... Interested applicants should apply using the above links! #medsky #immunosky

A few years ago, my lab started a list of papers analyzing antigen-specific #Bcells w/ fluorescent probes via #flowcytometry. We are now releasing this list of 700+ papers as a searchable database on my lab website with a short overview. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

TCF4 regulates alveolar macrophage stemness and is a promising therapeutic target in long COVID and related chronic lung diseases @jie-immunology.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social @uvaimmunology.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Jinyi Tang, PhD, received an NIHK99/R00 grant! The award was issued for Jinyi's work developing mucosal vaccines, which he and the @jie-immunology.bsky.social lab have shown to offer additional protection against COVID-19. Read more: immunology.virginia.edu/jtang_k99/

Gislane de Almeida Santos, PhD, is an expert in how the lung immune responses can cause long-term lung damage after viral infection. Outside of @jie-immunology.bsky.social's lab, she also volunteers at the UVA Internat'l Center, sharing Brazilian food and culture, and the UVA Postdoc Assoc.

Xiaoqin Wei, PhD, is a key player in the Sun Lab, having worked with @jie-immunology.bsky.social at the Mayo Clinic before UVA. She is an expert in long-COVID, identifying therapeutic targets to prevent lung diseases after viral infections. Xiaoqin is also a hiker and runner!

Asmaa Mohamed, PhD, is using engineered T cells to treat ovarian cancers and improve immunotherapies in the @immunegirl.bsky.social Lab. She came to UVA for its collaborative research environment and culture of mentorship. She's also a baker, multi-talented crafter, and history enthusiast!

@jie-immunology.bsky.social lab postdoc Jinyi Tang, PhD, studies immune cell behavior in the lungs after viral infections and mucosal vaccine development. He joined the CIC from the Mayo Clinic in 2021 and recently received a prestigious NIH K99 award! He's also a fan of movies, games, and hiking.

This National Postdoc Appreciation Week, the CIC thanks all our postdoctoral researchers for their phenomenal work. The rest of the week, we'll spotlight a different @uvahealth.bsky.social postdoc each day-- keep checking to learn more about these excellent researchers!

@justintaylorlab.bsky.social and his team released a preprint showing they can accurately predict patient outcomes in Merkel Cell Carcinoma. This cancer is known for rapid growth and metastasis, making their work extremely valuable for understanding factors leading to patient survival. Read more:

Excited to share our new findings: Severe respiratory viral infections like COVID-19 and flu can accelerate lung cancer development. Our study establishes a direct causal link, highlighting the urgent need for long-term cancer surveillance in COVID-19 survivors. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

CIC Resident Member @immunegirl.bsky.social received an award from the Michael Pascucci Cancer Association to fund her work in engineering T cells against ovarian cancers. Congratulations!

Member @alisoncrissuva.bsky.social is featured in this week's @uvahealth.bsky.social Research in Motion video! "Our research uncovers how the foot soldiers of our immune system, called neutrophils, recognize and respond to microbes."

Excited to share this preprint of our work studying B cells specific for the oncoprotein driving most cases of Merkel cell carcinoma. While oncoprotein-specific B cells are rare in tumor samples, when we detect robust responses in tumor samples patients do not experience disease progression. (1/5)

Megan Mazzei, a 2nd-year graduate student in the McNamara Lab, won a Poster Award at the Atherosclerosis GRC in Barcelona! Congratulations, Megan!

Jie Sun, PhD, was the feature story in today's Medicine in Motion for his work studying long-COVID! Congratulations, Jie!

Today, Michelle Montoya from @uvaimmunology.bsky.social will present a #preprint on how Serpine1 plays a critical role in #Th17 cell differentiation and #psoriasis pathogenesis. 🐭🙌☝️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

It was our pleasure to host everyone at #SIS2025 last weekend! Read our event recap here: www.immunology.virginia.edu/cic-hosts-20...

The #SIS2025 swag bags are ready -- are you? We're looking forward to hosting the Southeastern Immunology Symposium at UVA in 3 days!

‼️New Member‼️ The CIC welcomes Kelsey Voss, PhD! Kelsey is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology studying how the immune system interacts with physiological iron. She's also creating opportunities for trainees to review articles and publish their critiques in @natrevimmunol.nature.com. Read more:

Rossymar Rivera Colón, a PhD student mentored by @immunegirl.bsky.social, won the 3rd Place and Audience Choice awards at this year's Grad Thesis Slam! Her talk, "Giving T-Cells Their Power Back," used comic book-inspired design to explain how she engineers T cells to fight cancer. Congrats, Ross!

SIS 2025 registration ends next Monday. We still have a few seats available. Please join us! @uvaimmunology.bsky.social

Daniel Zegarra-Ruiz, PhD, received an award from @lupusresearch.bsky.social to study the role of the gut microbiome in lupus progression! Congratulations, Daniel! Read more: www.immunology.virginia.edu/daniel-zegar... #immunology #immunosky #medsky #lupus

Three CIC trainees are in this year's UVA PhD+ Grad Thesis Slam final! Ross Rivera Colon, Emily Grayson, and Ariana Sabzevari will have 3 minutes to present their research to a general audience with only 1 slide. Come support them at the event on April 23!

Abstracts for the 2025 Southeastern Immunology Symposium are due in one week (Apr. 21)! Join Drs. @miriammerad.bsky.social, Mathis, Kipnis, and more on UVA's beautiful campus! immunology.virginia.edu/sis2025/ #immunology #immunosky #medsky #SIS2025

Congratulations to Iana Niknezhad (left) and Aditi Shanbhag (right) for receiving summer research funding! Mentored by Daniel Zegarra-Ruiz, PhD, Iana and Aditi will study the relationships between diet, gut microbiome, and lupus. Congratulations to you both! #immunology

"I use a systems biology approach to uncover how the immune system contributes to heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide." 2nd-yr grad student @malcolmo.bsky.social, advised by @jsauce7.bsky.social, received an NSF Graduate Student Fellowship for his work. Congratulations Malcolm!

Want to stay current with our members and affiliates? Check out the UVA immunology starter pack! If you're an immunologist at UVA and want to be added to the list, DM us! go.bsky.app/D6VcWYZ

"Cancer patients can receive nearly identical treatments, but we don’t know why some will develop metastatic disease and others won’t." @rutkowskilab.bsky.social recently acceded to CIC Resident Membership and will be moving her lab into our space this summer! #immunology #medsky #cancer

Our next member spotlight is Natasha Sheybani, PhD, who is also featured in today's UVA Health News publication for receiving a $5.5 million DoD award to fund patient-centered breast cancer research. Welcome to the CIC, Dr. Sheybani! www.immunology.virginia.edu/new-member-i... #immunology #cancer

The CIC has been growing! Over the next few days, we'll be featuring new members of our community. Today, we're highlighting @nelson-lab.bsky.social, a new faculty member at UVA and a specialist in Tuberculosis research. www.immunology.virginia.edu/new-member-i... #immunology #medsky #immunosky

Chaofan Li, PhD, a Research Assistant Professor mentored by Jie Sun, PhD, recently received an Unrestricted Grant from the @atscommunity.bsky.social to study Long Covid! Congratulations, Chaofan! Read about his work below! #ImmunoSky #Immunology #COVID19 #MedSky

Oncoimmunology is one of our strengths, reflected by the membership overlap between our Center and the UVA Cancer Center. Three of our members were recently awarded funds by the Cancer Center. Read about the projects here: @justintaylorlab.bsky.social @immunegirl.bsky.social #Immunology #ImmunoSky

Jie Sun's team is the feature article in this week's Medicine in Motion publication! Learn about their recent Science publication on potential Long COVID-19 treatments below: news.med.virginia.edu/research/cov... #ImmunoSky #MedSky #Immunology #COVID19 #LongCOVID

Two CIC research teams have advanced to the next round of the STAT Madness competition -- please continue supporting your UVA colleagues! www.statnews.com/feature/stat...

Harish Narasimhan, a graduate student in the Sun lab, is in this year’s #STATMadness bracket, a competition to identify the best biomedical research of the year. His long COVID research deserves it! shorturl.at/KcNnr To support Harish, make an account and vote below! #ImmunoSky #MedSky

‼️EARLY CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS‼️ Asmaa, Rossymar, and Yaning are all CIC trainees, and Asmaa is one of our immunology training grant appointees. Congratulations on your talks and keep up the great work, y'all! #ImmunoSky #MedSky

"Biomedical research combines two things that I'm very passionate about: continual exploration of how our body works and the impact that it has on people's lives." CIC member Loren Erickson was featured in UVA Health's Research in Motion series! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJtr... #ImmunoSky #MedSky

CIC member @rutkowskilab.bsky.social's research was recently highlighted by UVA Health -- read about her work below! newsroom.uvahealth.com/2025/02/11/o... #ImmunoSky #MedSky