Wei Luo

It has been an honor to work with such a fantastic team on this project. Special thanks to Dr. Mark Shlomchik, my longtime mentor (and now a collaborator). This is the very first first-author paper for my PhD student, Alex Maldeney, who worked closely with Dr. Wenxia Jiang throughout this work.

PTEN restricts IL-21R signaling in GC B cells and suppresses their differentiation to plasma cells Abstract. The germinal center (GC) reaction is essential for generating high-quality humoral memory. Positively selected GC B cells must decide whether to

IL-21R signaling is transient in GC B cells. When you get rid of PTEN in GC B cells, IL-12R signaling can last much longer, and you get more plasma cells derived from GC.
academic.oup.com/jimmunol/adv...

Actually 8 years ago, forgot it is 2025

Deeply grateful to all the amazing co-authors and trainees who contributed. This was truly a team effort — your hard work made this possible.

I initiated this project~5 years ago when I was a postdoc in Dr. Mark Shlomchik’s lab. It’s amazing to bring it full circle — now collaborating as co-corresponding authors after starting my own lab. Very grateful for Dr. Shlomchik’s continued support throughout this journey.

In GC B cells, high BCL6 expression alters the regulatory hierarchy: BLIMP1 acts upstream, controlling IRF4 expression indirectly through BCL6. This contrasts with naive B cells, where IRF4 functions more upstream of BLIMP1.

Combined signals, such as BCR/CD40 or IL-21R/CD40, can induce BLIMP1 in GC B cells. BLIMP1 limits GC B cell expansion and promotes effector differentiation — not just for plasma cell differentiation but also memory B cell differentiation from GC. A broader role than previously appreciated.

BLIMP1 controls GC B cell expansion and exit through regulating cell cycle progression and key transcription factors BCL6 and IRF4 BLIMP1 is expressed in a subset of GCBCs. Conter et al. have shown that BLIMP1 intrinsically regulates multiple key processes in GCBCs, including positive selection, cell-cycle progression, isotype sw...

Thrilled to share that our manuscript is now published in Cell Reports! Our findings support a model in which BLIMP1 intrinsically regulates GC B cell fate through transcriptional control.
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

BLIMP1 controls GC B cell expansion and exit through regulating cell cycle progression and key transcription factors BCL6 and IRF4 @cp-cellreports.bsky.social @luoweicool.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Mark!

Never normalize insanity I thought I was going to be writing this Substack to satirize the insanity and the maddening bureaucracy of academia.

If any of this seems normal, you need to open your eyes.

profkap.substack.com/p/never-norm...

Omalizumab treats multi-food allergy better than oral immunotherapy

High rate of oral immunotherapy side effects in NIH trial explains superiority of omalizumab

www.jacionline.org/article/S009...

Asparagine drives immune evasion in bladder cancer via RIG-I stability and type I IFN signaling @jclinical-invest.bsky.social
www.jci.org/articles/vie...

New study reveals a major link between vaccines and Alzheimer's More than 6 million Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a number expected to climb as the population ages.

www.thebrighterside.news/health/new-s...

Illustration of a toddler crawling.

#Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children globally.

In 2023, an estimated 107 500 people died from measles, mostly children under age 5.

bit.ly/48SAtkf

😭 I am so sorry for the POs. They are always very nice to me.

GitHub - BorchLab/Ibex: Using BCR and expression for sequence embedding Using BCR and expression for sequence embedding . Contribute to BorchLab/Ibex development by creating an account on GitHub.

Ibex update!
Our single-cell BCR deep learning package just got a major overhaul!
✅ Now supports CDR3 & full CDR1/2/3 embeddings
✅ Human & mouse models available
✅ Trained on 2–10M unique sequences for high accuracy
Check it out! github.com/BorchLab/Ibex

Review @sciimmunology.bsky.social @tianyangmao.bsky.social
Linking vaccine adjuvant mechanisms of action to function
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨 RFK Jr. Confirmed as HHS Secretary 🚨

We knew this was coming, but let’s be clear—we’re not backing down. LFV is ready to fight back against policies that threaten vaccine access, funding, & public health protections.

This is just the beginning. Now, more than ever, we need YOU.

1/2

😭😭😭😭

See How Many Lives Vaccines Have Saved around the World Vaccines are the first step toward health equity in many parts of the world

Since RFK Jr just got confirmed today, I am taking this chance to share this wonderful @sciam.bsky.social piece on

The Staggering Success of Vaccines

www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-...

Too bad I just submitted one grant with "vaccine" in the title 😂

RFK Jr. Sought to Stop Covid Vaccinations 6 Months After Rollout Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned the F.D.A. to revoke authorization of the shots at a time when they were in high demand and considered life-saving.

RFK Jr sought to block the vaccine & wanted a lot of you & your families to un-alive from COVID. Pass it on. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/h...

This man is a profound danger. Every American should oppose his nomination.

Just saw this. Actually, still do not know it is CD4 or CD8, or both (easy to figure out but has not done). I guess strong signal/B-T interaction (or B cell derived cytokine?) may convert CD4 from helper to killer too, not necessarily within GC (Cg1 is not a super GC-specific Cre).

I've seen a child with tetanus, I've treated near fatal infections after chicken pox, and I've pronounced children dead from COVID whose parents refused to have them vaccinated.

We have lost our minds... and are about to lose so many of our precious children.

Holy hell. RFK Jr’s team has been gunning to pull the polio vaccine. He really is trying to #MakeIronLungsGreatAgain.

Gift 🎁 link: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/h...

The total mass, number, and distribution of immune cells in the human body | PNAS The immune system is a complex network of cells with critical functions in health and disease. However, a comprehensive census of the cells compris...

B CELL FUN FACT: Secrets of the GC #2

There are 300 billion B cells with total mass of 60g in the human body. That is 3 times the number of stars in the Milky Way! Naïve B cell express >10 million unique antibodies to protect us from this universe of possible antigens!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Another year! Enjoyed our department holiday party!