Kat Mayer-Barber,PhD

Harnessing mucosal immunity for protective vaccines - Nature Reviews Immunology Many clinically relevant pathogens enter the body through mucosal surfaces, yet conventional parenteral immunization is insufficient to elicit robust mucosal immunity. This Review examines the unique ...

Harnessing mucosal immunity for protective vaccines

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

Do you work with the Aspergillus fumigatus model isolates Af293 or CEA10? If so, we want to collaborate with you! In return for your lab's participation we will sequence your strain for free and provide co-authorship on the final paper.

Learn more here: asp-fumi-seq-project-2025.vercel.app

📢2nd Annual Meeting of the EFIS-IL Sex Differences in Immunity Study Group!
🗓️October 8-9, 2026
📍Hamburg, Germany
🔗https://linktr.ee/EFIS_ISD
@yefis-immunology.bsky.social @dgfi-org.bsky.social @sfi-immunologie.bsky.social @swimm-immuno.bsky.social @irishimmunology.bsky.social @finnsocimm.bsky.social

Help me welcome our latest Plague Dr.! Congratulations to Dr. Sheneman on successfully defending her PhD on Friday the 13th 🎉🍾!

How tumours trick the brain into shutting down cancer-fighting cells Lung cancer in mice hijacks neurons to send a signal that subdues the immune system, study finds.

'Tumours boost their own growth by attracting & commandeering nearby sensory nerves (...) By ‘plugging into’ tumour cells, these nerves can send a signal to the brain that subdues the protective activity of immune cells at the tumour site — allowing the cancerous cells to proliferate unchecked'

Not something you see in textbooks very often: tripolar mitosis.

A ‘simple’ experiment but an amazing gem of a reference!

Just stimulate blood, observe and describe…

#ImmunoSky

Please share and distribute

ILC6 in Vancouver
Abstract submission and registration are open:
ilc6vancouver.com
#immunosky #ILC6vancouver #ILC6

Lots of presenter spots available

Secure your spot and discounted fees during early bird registration and come visit beautiful Vancouver.

This is a very appealing meeting in Paris later this year...

"The complexity of mycobacterial infections: from research to real-world impact"
#EMBOComplexInfections

#TBSky for the tuberculosis research, but also #NTM #Leprosy #IDSky #ImmunoSky

meetings.embo.org/event/26-myc...

Important paper by Björn
Corleis. For decades a central tenet of #tuberculosis immunology has that IFNγ-driven iNOS expression in macrophages is the primary mechanism of bacterial control. Turns out this is really only in mice and maybe cattle. It’s not true in most species including humans an NHP.

The Barber lab is looking to hire post-docs to work on #tuberculosis #immunology using murine and NHP models. BSL3 experience not required. Check out our lab in the NIH intramural program in Bethesda MD!

Computational Immunologist - Boston, Massachusetts (US) job with Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, & Harvard | 12849577 The Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard in Cambridge MA, together with the Departmen

The @ragoninstitute.bsky.social is launching a new faculty search for a computational immunologist! Applications are open now and reviewed on a rolling basis. Please share broadly with your networks! #immunosky

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptide-specific T cells in pulmonary granulomas display broad effector functions Immunology; microbiology; transcriptomics

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Check out our new paper with @nelson-lab.bsky.social. We used scRNAseq to profile the function of Mtb peptide-specific T cells from NHP and human lung granulomas. Beyond IFNγ, Mtb-specific T cells make a bunch of unexpected stuff, and human and NHP cell are really similar.

<em>Journal of Internal Medicine</em> | Wiley Online Library Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading infectious cause of morbidity and mortality, and the development of a new, highly effective vaccine would have a tremendous beneficial impact on global health. Alt....

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate - some macrophages you just can’t reach!

Multiple features of granulomas limit effective T cell:MΦ interactions, posing a major barrier for vaccine-mediated protection.

Check out our new review!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Job Alert

Junior Research Group Leader – Translation of Next Generation Anti-Cancer Cellular Immunotherapies

Deadline: 2026-01-07
Location: Germany, Mainz

👉 www.academiceurope.com/ads/junior-r...

#CancerResearch #DataScience #Immunology #MedicalScience #Medicine #PhD #leadershipskills #hiring

Splenic cDC1 efferocytosis and cross-presentation to CD8 T cells is promoted by GPR34 and lysophosphatidylserine, say Hanson Tam, Jason Cyster and colleagues: rupress.org/jem/article/...

#InnateImmunity #inflammation
@HHMI.org

Assistant Professor position posted for my Department, Biological Sciences at UNC Charlotte! Current research foci: Immunology, Microbiology, Virology; Biomolecular Function; Proteostasis; Genome Integrity; Epigenome Regulation; Cancer; Environmental Risks. jobs.charlotte.edu/postings/65141

PhD opportunities

if you are interested in a PhD in tuberculosis drug discovery, check out our opportunities 🧪🦠 #Tuberculosis lstm.ac/PhD

📢Are you a postdoctoral researcher with an excellent track record in #immunology and/or related field? We are hiring, but hurry, call closes 27 November! Apply and join us in Finland! Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/4r83ktP
#ImmunoSky #MedSky #LifeScience

We have a last few chances to get your spot at #KSFUNGALPATH26 meeting next year! Submit your abstract by Dec 5 to be considered. Don't miss out!
#immunosky 🧪🍄

How do cytokines shape immune cells?

We analyzed and visualized Parse Bio's 10M PBMC dataset to give researchers a powerful tool for exploring the dynamics between cytokines & peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

More: https://apps.allenimmunology.org/aifi/resources/parse-10m-cytokines/

#ImmunoSky

#Immunosky people! 6th International Conference on Innate Lymphoid Cells - ILC6 in Vancouver.
ilc6vancouver.com
First program draft online. Abstract submission and registration officially open!
#ILC6 #ILC6Vancouver #2026ILC6

This the lung micro environment regulates the macrophage glycocalyx via local cytokines at rest and following infection, a process likely crucial to viral infection

Airway macrophage specific expression of a dense glycocalyx and its remodelling following viral infection The glycocalyx is best studied for its regulation of immune cell trafficking from the vasculature into inflamed tissues. The glycocalyx is composed of a range of glycans and glyco-proteins that form a...

Delighted to share our new pre-print from PhD student Ziyun Zhang joint with @tracyh9494.bsky.social demonstrating that lung alveolar macrophages have a dense glycocalyx and interstitial macrophages do not, @mcrcellmatrix.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We're hiring! Check out our ad and please re-post or forward to interested #Microbiology parties: apply.interfolio.com/174783

Membrane integrity changes upon viral infection activate sphingomyelinase SMPDL3B to restrict cGAS-STING signaling via cGAMP degradation Wang et al. find that cell membrane stress upon viral infection induces expression and stabilization of host sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase acid-like 3B (SMPDL3B), which, in turn, degrades cGAMP to s...

#WeekendRead! #FriendOrFoes?! Zhang &co show @cp-immunity.bsky.social that herpes simplex virus #HSV1 exploits changes in membrane integrity to activate a GPI-anchored hydrolase which degrades cGAMP preventing #cGAS/#STING activation & favoring virus infection

www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

#Openpositions #ImmunoSky #MedSky #wearehiring
Are you a postdoctoral researcher with an excellent track record in immunology research and/or a related field? Come and work with us in Finland!
👉Read more: bit.ly/43C68Fd

Structural immunity: immune cells as architects of tissue barriers - Nature Reviews Immunology This Perspective presents a framework of ‘structural immunity’ that positions immune cells as architects of tissue structure. Beyond their roles in antimicrobial defence, we posit that immune cells co...

NEW Perspective by @alazozcan.bsky.social, Tommaso Vicanolo, Veronique Angeli, Yuval Rinkevich & @drusqui.bsky.social presents a model of immune cells as architects of tissue barriers, by depositing matrix components or by interactions with structural cells and the ECM
#structuralimmunity #immunosky

Cold-water gut isolate from threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) reveals polypropylene surface oxidation and co-culture inhibition Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP), two of the most widely produced plastics in the United States, persist in cold-water environments where plastic-degrading microbes have been po...

I was impressed with the meticulous work that Sarah did and how well she led a team of undergrads, rotation students, and the chemist collaborator, Abiodun Aderibigbe, who did the XPS analysis. There is more in the paper that I don't have time to capture here, please read the paper for more info!