Nonia Pariente

Window art depicting a happy meal box as if it were a rocket (but also looking like a phage)

Would you look at that? Even fast food chains pay homage to #phage 😝🚀🧪

Wednesday

Inside Russia’s Secret Campaign of Sabotage in Europe How Russian military intelligence is recruiting young people online to carry out espionage, arson, and other attacks across the Continent.

Eye-opening article on Russia’s low-level war on Europe by recruiting ‘single-use agents’. Inside Russia’s Secret Campaign of Sabotage in Europe www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Synapse type density in the mouse brain. PSD95 and SAP102, two postsynaptic scaffolding proteins expressed at excitatory synapses, were fluorescently imaged at single-punctum resolution across the whole mouse brain. Top row: Axial, coronal, and sagittal view of the 137-region parcellation used for analyses involving tract-tracing data (left) and the 88-region parcellation used for analyses involving fMRI data (right). Regions are coloured and labeled according to ontological structure. Other roaws show axial, coronal, and sagittal views of mean long-lifetime PSD95 synapse density, mean short-lifetime PSD95 synapse density, and mean SAP102 synapse density, mapped to both 137- and 88-region parcellations.

How do diverse synapses relate spatially to whole-brain dynamics? @misicbata.bsky.social &co map ~1 billion synaptic puncta from a single mouse brain onto #hemodynamic features, revealing links between #synapse features, #brain networks & synaptic engagement @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4rmeef6

Regardless, I am very looking forward to a few days in the one place I still think of as home, despite not having lived there since the fall of 1996 (God I am old!)

Regardless, I am very looking forward to a few days in the one place I still think of as home, despite not having lived there since the fall of 1996 (God I am old!)

Cartoon of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, water logged due to heavy rain

How your email will find me tomorrow and next week

😎 paper alert!

Nice work from the Laub lab showing that binding to ring structures made by different phage defense proteins activates RNAse to inhibits translation and phage infection. It needs to be in a 24-meric ring structure to cut.

🧪#microsky

😎 paper alert!

Nice work from the Laub lab showing that binding to ring structures made by different phage defense proteins activates RNAse to inhibits translation and phage infection. It needs to be in a 24-meric ring structure to cut.

🧪#microsky

The James Chen lab does it again!

PI(3,5)P2 identified as the molecular glue that mediates STING oligomerization upon cGAMP binding, necessary for downstream signaling

😎 work!

🧪

The James Chen lab does it again!

PI(3,5)P2 identified as the molecular glue that mediates STING oligomerization upon cGAMP binding, necessary for downstream signaling

😎 work!

🧪

The hometown newspaper that I read as a teenager through Watergate and Vietnam and made me crave the life of a reporter is now being butchered by a billionaire who had $75 million to bribe and flatter a president and his wife but nothing to save journalism, an bulwark of the republic itself. Got it.

Multi-omics and perturbation screens as discovery tools in immunometabolism Metabolic regulation of immune function is a complex and dynamic process. This Perspective highlights how systems biology approaches, including multi-omics profiling and perturbomics screening, are be...

In their Perspective, Nicole Chapman and Hongbo Chi advocate for the use of systems biology approaches in #immunometabolism research as discovery tools for new therapeutic targets.
plos.io/4aR959z

Immunometabolism in obesity: Understanding the beneficial and detrimental roles of inflammation Chronic low-grade metabolic inflammation (known as metaflammation) drives insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction in obesity. This Essay discusses the immunometabolic mechanisms underlying metafl...

In his Essay, Yun Sok Lee investigates the process of metaflammation, the chronic low-grade inflammatory response that occurs in metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, exploring how systemic changes in #metabolism can affect tissue-resident immune cells plos.io/4sOCOqh

How do immunometabolites shape bacterial infections? Metabolites generated by both host and pathogen have a major impact on the severity and outcomes of infection. This Essay investigates how the study of immunometabolism has yielded insight into the mo...

In their Essay, Griffin Gowdy and Alice Prince look at the role of immunometabolites in both driving and combating bacterial infections, with a focus on #pathogens that infect the lungs plos.io/4jpVnNb

Targeting immunometabolism in cancer through pharmacological and lifestyle interventions Immunometabolism is often disrupted in diseases such as cancer, suggesting it could be useful target for therapy. This Essay explores the potential for incorporating both lifestyle changes and drug th...

Finally, on a more holistic level, Guang Sheng Ling and colleagues suggest a two-pronged approach to targeting #immunometabolism therapeutically through pharmaceutical and lifestyle interventions, with a focus on #cancer plos.io/4jNASKk

An image of the author on the right, with the text: "The field of immunometabolism not only promises to provide fresh insights into the mechanisms of immune dysfunction, but also offers tools that could be used to restore homeostasis, or at least dial immune responses up or down. I am most excited to see how basic research that elucidates the mechanisms by which metabolism affects immunity will lead to deeper insights into how the immune system shapes physiology."

Senior Editor Lucas Smith discusses his hopes for the field of #immunometabolism in his blog post plos.io/4qd5EOo

An image of the author on the right, with the text: "The field is clearly moving towards trying to address real medical problems using the knowledge we have gained over the past few decades of how immune metabolic pathways govern and guide the immune response. Understanding the interplay between systemic metabolism and the immune response will be crucial if we want to find ways to intervene in conditions with altered metabolism"

First, our Collection Editor Claudio Mauro introduces the theme for the Collection and his vision for the future of #immunometabolism research in his Editorial
plos.io/4qTmEu1

Our latest collection of commentary and Essays is devoted to #immunometabolism, highlighting how molecular & cellular mechanisms impact tissue and organismal functions, as well as the therapeutic potential of manipulating immunometabolism

#cancer #aging #metabolism #inflammation
🧪
@plosbiology.org

Knowledge gaps and research priorities to understand sex differences in immunity Immunity differs profoundly according to biological sex, leading to sex differences in autoimmunity, infections, cancer and responses to immunotherapy and vaccines. This Essay explores the major…

Why are there such big differences between the sexes when it comes to immune responses? This Essay looks at what further research is required to fully determine sex-differential mechanisms in #immunity.🧪 #immunosky

Fungi can become drug-resistant without changing their DNA. They just... turn off the gene. And turn it back on when the drug's gone. This is wild and concerning for treating infections like mucormycosis (50-90% mortality). From Joe Heitman's group at @duke-university.bsky.social.

Top: FK506-resistant strains isolated from the Mucor circinelloides complex. Phenotypic analysis of FK506-resistant isolates in Mucor janssenii CBS185.68 (PS1), Mucor bainieri CBS293.63 (PS3), and Mucor atramentarius CBS202.28 (PS6). WT, wild-type; M, mendelian mutant; E, epimutant. Bottom: Schematic overview of epigenetic silencing contributing to antifungal resistance in Mucor species. fkbA expression enables FKBP12 production and FK506 sensitivity (yeast-like morphology). Epigenetic silencing of fkbA via RNAi and/or heterochromatin leads to FK506 resistance and hyphal growth. Generated with BioRender.com.

#Antifungal resistance is a global threat, but epigenetic mechanisms drive rapid, reversible adaptation in fungi. This study shows that #RNAi or #heterochromatin driven #epimutations transiently silence the gene fkbA to confer FK506 #tacrolimus resistance in #Mucor @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4qdttWc

There are clear sex differences in immunity, but we don't understand them well.

Here Katie Flanagan and Sabra Klein discuss the state of the field and research priorities to advance our understanding and better prevent and treat disease in everyone

@plosbiology.org #Immunosky
🧪

Top: Several oriental fruit fly females (Bactrocera dorsalis) are laying eggs on a guava; one of them is seen to extend its elongated and pointed ovipositor, preparing to insert it into the fruit to lay eggs. Image credit Daifeng Cheng. Bottom: Diagram summarising the mechanism of regulation of oviposition behavior by kainate receptors.

Oviposition is crucial for #insect fitness and is a target for #PestControl. This study reveals that two #KainateReceptors in regulate #oviposition preference & egg-laying quantity in the fruit pest #Bactrocera dorsalis, and identifies relevant inhibitors @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4c6HgdK

Top: Subcellular localization of Cap1-GFP in wild-type background (top, tetO-CAP1-GFP/CAP1), Cap1-GFP with C446* (middle, TeO-CAP1C446*-GFP/CAP1) and wild-type Cap1-RFP (bottom, CAP1C446*/TeO-CAP1-RFP) in CAP1/CAP1C446* background. Scale bar, 5 μm. Bottom: Schematic of subcellular localization and transcription activation of CAP1 in wild-type (CAP1/CAP1, left) and CAP1/CAP1C446*. Figure generated with BioRender.

#Azole resistance in #Candida albicans poses a growing threat, and is linked to #StressResponse. @annaselmecki.bsky.social &co show that mutations in the oxidative stress TF Cap1 promote #DrugResistance while exposing a lethal vulnerability at high azole doses @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4rOrfOz

Diagram of the consumer-resource vaginal microbiota model. The authors track the dynamics of two vaginal microbiota types (CST I and CST IV associated bacteria; C1 and C4) and the shared (Rs) and private resource (Rp) utilised by the two communities. The arrows among compartments represent density-dependent interactions including resource-mediated bacterial growth; lactic-acid-mediated density regulation (self-regulation and antagonism); resource supply; sialic acid cleaving; and background clearance of microbes and resources. The representative species and, or molecules for each model component are listed. The corresponding mathematical model based on ordinary differential equations is detailed in the Methods section of the paper.

The #vaginal #microbiome is shaped by bacterial access to specific nutritional resources. This study uses a resource-based model & clinical data to identify key ecological mechanisms underlying #microbiota composition & potential #BacterialVaginosis interventions @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3NY2ssu

#HIV-1 Vpr always reminds me of my postdoc times in the Chen lab!

📢 Call for entries now open!

The 2026 Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Research Quality offers up to €350,000 to recognize global leadership in research integrity, transparency & reliability.

🗓 Deadline: April 30, 2026 (22:00 UTC)

🔗 award.einsteinfoundation.de

Claves que debemos conocer sobre el peligroso virus Nipah La detección de dos casos de infección por este peligroso virus en la India han hecho saltar las alarmas, aunque el riesgo de que el brote se expanda fuera del área afectada es bajo.

Un nuevo brote del letal virus Nipah, registrado en el estado indio de Bengala Occidental, ha hecho saltar las alarmas. ¿Qué tenemos que saber? Nos lo cuenta @raulrivas.bsky.social (@usaloficial.bsky.social)

⚠️ AVISO ESPECIAL | Temporal atlántico.

🌧️ Lluvias muy abundantes, sobre todo en Andalucía. Puede haber inundaciones.

💨 Viento intenso el jueves en la Península. Posibles caídas de ramas y objetos.

Sigue las indicaciones de Protección Civil.

+ info 👉 www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/...