Ines Sturmlechner

Huge thank you to our co-first author Abhinav Jain @abhinav1993.bsky.social, all the co-authors and collaborators, core services, and funding sources @afar.org, @mayoclinic.org Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging!

2️⃣ an adjuvanted component VZV vaccine, that is exceptionally effective in older adults, does not simply rejuvenated the CD8+ T cell memory.
3️⃣ instead, it mobilizes the CD4+ T cell compartment to generate a protective Th17 response thereby compensate for the maladaptive CD8 compartment.

We show that:
1️⃣ CD8+ T cell memory against varicella zoster virus (VZV) is perturbed in older adults who received a life-attenuated VZV vaccine, explaining why older adults are less protected from shingles.

Antigen-specific TH17 cells offset the age-related decline in durable T cell immunity Aging impairs the CD8+ T cell VZV vaccine response, while effective VZV vaccination functions through inducing TH17 CD4+ T cells.

Excited to share our newest study “Antigen-specific TH17 cells offset the age-related decline in durable T cell immunity” now published in Science Advances @science.org!
 
🧵

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Aging impairs the CD8+ T cell VZV vaccine response, while effective VZV vaccination functions through inducing TH17 CD4+ T cells
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@mayoclinic.org @inessturmlechner.bsky.social

Candid photo of Zara Weinberg. She has short red hair, bangs and glasses. She is laughing.

The Leading Edge Fellows gathered this week to celebrate Zara Weinberg, a beloved member of our community. Our 7th cohort of Leading Edge Fellows (2026) will be named in her honor.

The Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Cohort application is now open! Due Feb 2.

www.leadingedgesymposium.org/apply/

Get your Zoster vaccine! @naturemedicine.bsky.social
A consistent relationship of VZV reactivation with dementia in 100M US adults after controlling for nearly 400 measured characteristics, with zoster vaccines reducing risk of dementia in dose-dependent manner
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Applications are now open for the Salk SURF — a fully funded, 10-week program that gives undergraduate students access to world-class facilities, mentorship from leading scientists, and a supportive community of peers.

📅 Deadline: December 7, 2025

Apply today: www.salk.edu/about/our-communi...

Research Spotlight: Dr. @inessturmlechner.bsky.social, PhD – Mayo Clinic

Her new Nature Communications study reveals how antigen specificity shapes aging paths of memory CD8⁺ T cells, explaining immune decline & infection risk in older adults.

👉 Read: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#AgingResearch

Congrats! Very interesting topic!

Great opportunity! The Uni Vienna has launched a call (APART) for 4-funding for outstanding postdocs from a US institution. The host lab has to nominate by 1 August a candidate for further selection. Anyone interested in our work please contact me by email with CV/motivation letter. Hurry up!

Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.

This story was made possible thanks to NIH staff who reached out. I'm always looking for more sources, message me on Signal (mkozlov.01).

If you hit a paywall, making a free account will open the full story.

Huge thank you 🙏 to my awesome co-first author Abhinav Jain @abhinav1993.bsky.social, all co-authors, the Robert & Arlene Kogod Center on Aging, AFAR @afar.org, and the San Diego NSC @nathanshockcenters.org for all their support! 🙏

➡️ intriguing contribution of TCR avidity in this process – low TCR avidity may select for cells prone to acquire innate/NK features, while high TCR avidity associates with stem-like features and may be lost with aging

➡️ many aging changes are happening and common to many, but not all, EBV-specific T cell populations is a loss of stem-like traits and a gain of lymphocyte innateness = CD8+ T cells become more like NK cells as they age

➡️ no evidence of age-related exhaustion or cellular senescence

➡️ human memory CD8+ T cells specific to different Epstein-Barr virus proteins acquire diverse phenotypes already in young adults

➡️ depending on the antigen specificity, these memory CD8+ T cells follow divergent phenotypic and transcriptional aging trajectories, in older adults

Antigen specificity shapes distinct aging trajectories of memory CD8⁺ T cells - Nature Communications Homeostasis of memory T cells is modulated by each antigen encounter, thereby creating a heterogeneous population preventing precise tracking. Here, the authors use barcode-assisted tracing of Epstein...

I’m excited to share our new T cell aging study published in Nature Communications @natcomms.nature.com !

We show that T cells do not age uniformly but undergo distinct aging trajectories even if they were primed simultaneously early in life.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

👇👇

✨✨ #GLAM2025 ✨✨ is back 9/5/2025 to showcase #geroscience trainee research! Registration and poster submission are open (and #FlashTalk selection for #undergrads!).
Event website: gero.usc.edu/laara/event/...
Thanks to @activemotifusa.bsky.social, #Hevolution and #VWR for their support!

Ageing is linked to inflammation — but only in the industrialized world Inflammation, thought to be a driver of age-related disease, does not worsen with age in some Indigenous communities.

Inflammation, thought to be a driver of age-related disease, does not worsen with age in some Indigenous communities

https://go.nature.com/45NHWSr

🚨 Preprint alert 🚨 , spearheaded by the talented Mr. #RyanLu, a graduate student: "Murine peritoneal macrophages undergo female-specific remodeling with aging", a functional genomics study of sex-dimorphism ♀️♂️ in #immune #aging 🖥️🧬🧪. #GeroSky #ImmunoSky 🧵, 1/13
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Preprint: Antigen-specific Th17 T cells offset the age-related decline in durable T cell immunity
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@inessturmlechner.bsky.social

Thank you, Matt!!

I’m so excited and honored to be part of this incredible community!

Call for Applications! The 32nd Annual NIA Training Course provides intense exposure to current concepts in experimental aging research for a cohort of 15-20 research scientists. Applications are due July 1, 2025. Learn more here: bit.ly/44y6RIY

Fig. 2. Profiling of Human PBMCs Reveals Distinct Immune Subpopulations and Marker Expression Patterns. (a) UMAP plots showing selected marker expression intensities across all cells in the UMAP space to highlight lineage-specific marker distribution. (b) Dot plot of all marker expression across all identified PBMC cell types. Dendrogram highlighted distinct marker-based groupings. (c) UMAP visualization showing 16 distinct clusters with annotated cell types including Naive CD4 and CD8 T cells, central memory CD4 and CD8 T cells (Tcm), effector memory CD8 T cells (Tem), terminally differentiated effector memory CD8 T cells (Temra), mucosal-associated invariant (MAIT) T cells, classical monocytes (cMO), intermediate monocytes (iMO), B cells, NK cells, gamma delta (γδ) T cells (Tgd), conventional dendritic cell (cDC) and plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC).

Super excited to announce our new paper (and tool) spearheaded by
@hasansiam.xyz
! CAFE (cell analyzer for flow experiments) is a user-friendly web app to analyze flow cytometry data. No coding required! Check out the paper academic.oup.com/bioinformati... 🔬💻

This sounds very cool and useful!!
Congrats!

Congrats!!

Interested in aging?

Super excited about this upcoming Keystone meeting!! 🧪🌲🌲
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health -- Banff, Canada in 2026!!! ✨✨

Joint meeting with the Keystone Innate Immunity meeting!

#aging #immunity @keystonesymposia.bsky.social

www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

Just found this account celebrating the achievements of women👇🏽

Applications are now open for the NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program which provides unique opportunities for new/junior investigators to gain insight about #AgingResearch. Learn more and apply here: bit.ly/4h9NQiX