Pitt Department of Immunology

Members of the Hawse Lab and authors on the study stand outside the lab. From left to right: Achyudhan Katuva, Richard Cattley, Andreza Buzolin Sonego, Elana Im and Douglas Prado.

Could understanding why good T helper 17 (Th17) cells go bad offer clues for treating #multiplesclerosis? New research from Dr. William Hawse's lab sheds light on the processes by which Th17 cells become pathogenic in a mouse model of MS.

Read more: lnkd.in/eXntvb-F

📅The deadline is November 17 at 11:59 pm

Three former MIDS scholars stand in a group along with Drs. Olivera Finn and Partha Biswas.

Do you know an undergrad at Pitt, Chatham University, or @cmu.edu who hasn't had opportunities for hands-on research? Please encourage them to apply for the Microbiology and Immunology Departments (MID) Scholars Program! Learn more and apply: lnkd.in/eT-gYTqR

Immunofluorescence image of colonic tissue from a mouse Salmonella superspreader. When regulatory T cells are depleted, mice exhibit gastroenteritis symptoms and there is an increase in tissue-damaging cytotoxic CD4+ T cells, shown in yellow and highlighted by arrows.

How did #TyphoidMary infect dozens of people with typhoid-causing Salmonella bacteria while remaining asymptomatic? New research in mice led by Dr. Blanda Di Luccia suggests that #Tregs play a role.

Learn more: tinyurl.com/28k78fw9

Graphic with headshot of Dr. Blanda Di Luccia welcoming her to the University of Pittsburgh Department of Immunology as a Research Assistant Professor

A very warm welcome to Dr. Blanda Di Luccia, who joined the department this month as a Research Assistant Professor! Her research focuses on understanding host-microbe interactions in the gut and how the immune system maintains tolerance during chronic infection. Learn more: bit.ly/3WXgr2V

Graphic with headshots of University of Pittsburgh researchers Robert Binder, Amitava Mukherjee, and Joel Greenberger announcing that they have been awarded a U01 grant from the National Institutes of Health for their project "Mitigation of hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (ARS) by inhibition of tyrosine kinase Fgr."

With a new U01 grant from the NIH, Pitt researchers Drs. Robert Binder, Amitava Mukherjee, and Joel Greenberger are investigating whether targeting a protein called Fgr can restore blood production after radiation exposure, which wipes out blood-generating stem cells in the bone marrow.

Graphic with headshot of graduate student Kenta Yamamoto announcing his F30 predoctoral award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Congratulations to @pitt-pmi.bsky.social student Kenta Yamamoto from @slg1717.bsky.social's lab for receiving an F30 predoctoral award from @niaidnews.bsky.social to study how RNA-binding proteins regulate #Tcells that drive inflammatory disease in a model of #GraftVersusHostDisease!

Congratulations, Dr. Dermody!

The position offers a competitive start-up package and dedicated space within The Assembly, a new, state-of-the-art research building in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh that houses faculty in the CSI, the Department of Immunology, and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

We're looking for candidates with strong research training and accomplishments in systems and computational immunology and/or synthetic biology and immune engineering to join our highly interactive and collaborative immunology and computational biology community.

Graphic announcing that the Center for Systems Immunology and the University of Pittsburgh Department of Immunology are hiring an Assistant Professor in Systems Immunology. To learn more or apply, visit join.pitt.edu and search 24007498 under Faculty Positions

🚨 Faculty position alert! 🚨The Center for Systems Immunology (CSI) and @pitt-immunology.bsky.social are seeking to appoint a tenure-stream Assistant Professor. Learn more and apply: bit.ly/3L42cGS

The Cancer Immunotherapy Revolution: From Artificial Sweeteners to T-Cell Monitoring Recent discoveries in cancer immunotherapy reveal new factors that may affect patients’ treatment response and help researchers improve these outcomes.

Catch up on recent #cancer #immunotherapy discoveries in
this roundup featuring @overacrelab.bsky.social's finding that #sucralose weakens immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy www.the-scientist.com/the-cancer-i...

We hear you, immunologists! Due to funding disruptions & community challenges, the Regular Abstract Submission deadline for #IMMUNOLOGY2026™ has been extended to October 22, at 6:00 PM ET.
➡️ Travel Awards remain open
➡️ 2nd Abstract submission period will be Dec 2–16
Learn more: ow.ly/1yFx50XcCJ7

From left to right: Dr. Heth Turnquist (man with a beard and glasses wearing jeans, a white button up shirt, and a black suit coat), Dr. Ananda Goldrath (woman wearing a long navy blue dress and orange shoes), and Dr. Dario Vignali (man with glasses wearing dark pants, a gray button up shirt, and a dark gray suit coat) all smiling. They are standing in front of a large projector screen with Dr. Goldrath's title slide in the background, "T cell function in tissues is imprinted by anatomical positioning And CD8 T cell exhaustion rescued by restoration of proteostasis".

Dr. Ananda Goldrath lecturing from behind a podium, next to a large projection screen showing graphs of T cell biology.

Thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's #Eberly Distinguished Lectureship in #Immunology! Thank you especially to Dr. Ananda Goldrath for such a wonderful talk!!! It's been an honor to host you and learn more about your research🔬🌌

Don't miss Ananda Goldrath's talk tomorrow for the Eberly Distinguished Lectureship in Immunology!

📍 Richards Auditorium at The Assembly & Zoom
📅 Thursday, October 16
🕛 Noon-1pm

KIR+ CD8+ T cells increase in a pregnant mother’s body during pregnancy. These cells help maintain a healthy pregnancy by suppressing alloreactive T cells, which recognize fetal proteins as foreign, a process that can potentially harm the fetus

How does a pregnant mother's immune system recognize and eliminate infections while tolerating the developing baby? Meet the #Tcells that help maintain a healthy pregnancy in a new study by Dr. Jing Li. Learn more: bit.ly/479TT3S

Graphic with headshot of Dr. Victor S. Cortez announcing his appointment to Assistant Professor in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Immunology

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Victor S. Cortez to @pitt-immunology.bsky.social as a tenure-stream Assistant Professor! Dr. Cortez's research focuses on understanding how immune cells and inflammation affect tissue physiology.

Learn more about Dr. Cortez and his work: buff.ly/gvfkW6Y

Congratulations to @pitt-immunology.bsky.social secondary faculty member Dr. Sarah Gaffen @slg1717.bsky.social on receiving the @cmu.edu Alumni Award for her work on IL-17!

Read more⬇️

www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

Regulatory T-Cell Pioneers Awarded Nobel Prize By identifying regulatory T cells, this year’s Nobel laureates revealed a paradox at the heart of immunity: The same cells that prevent autoimmunity also suppress anticancer responses. That insight is...

"The future is bright." Department chair Dr. Dario Vignali (@vignalilab.bsky.social) shares his thoughts on the Nobel prize-winning discovery of regulatory T cells buff.ly/lZZaW9g

#Nobel2025 #tregs

Graphic with headshot of Dr. Amanda Poholek announcing her promotion to associate professor with tenure

Congratulations to Dr. Amanda Poholek @poholeklab.bsky.social for her promotion to Associate Professor with tenure! Learn more about Dr. Poholek and her research: buff.ly/q14wey8

Thanks for sharing this research by @meisellab.bsky.social at @pitt-immunology.bsky.social!

This should be a great lecture from @pitt-immunology.bsky.social secondary faculty member @kohanlab.bsky.social!

Graphic with headshot of Dr. Dayana Rivadeneira announcing her promotion to Assistant Professor

Congratulations to Dr. Dayana Rivadeneira for her promotion to Assistant Professor at @pitt-immunology.bsky.social and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center! Learn more about Dr. Rivadeneira and her research: buff.ly/0rhXAnJ

Oxidative-stress-induced telomere instability drives T cell dysfunction in cancer The tumor microenvironment (TME) imposes immunologic and metabolic stresses sufficient to deviate immune cell differentiation into dysfunctional state…

The paper, led by Dayana Rivadeneira and @delgoffelab.bsky.social, is now published in @cp-immunity.bsky.social buff.ly/EmyQx1w (2/2)

Great minds think unalike: Learn how a team of immunologists, cancer researchers, telomere experts, and an organic chemist brought their different expertise together to reveal new insights into how damage to #telomeres can shut down #cancer -fighting T cells. buff.ly/gICm1SL (1/2)

Afsana Naaz is a woman wearing a green t-shirt with a long black skirt, smiling. She is standing next to her poster presentation entitled "Alloimmunity Generated Injury Signals Control Local Chemokine Levels in Areas of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy".

Betsy Varghese is a woman with glasses wearing a horizontal black and white striped long-sleeve shirt with black bottoms, smiling. She is standing next to her poster presentation entitled "Establishing immune biomarker surrogates of neuro-, surgical and rejection-mediated inflammation in Whole Eye Transplant (WET)"

Jordan Warunek is a man wearing khakis and a dark checkered button up shirt, smiling. He is standing next to his poster presentation entitled "Macrophage Recognition of Donor MHCI Tunes IL-27 Production to Shape Tissue Repair Following Heart Transplantation".

The #Turnquist Lab takes on the 2025 #Immunology Dept (@pitt-immunology.bsky.social) Retreat!! Special congratulations to Dr. Turnquist's pre-doc, Jordan Warunek, for winning 2nd Best Poster🎉👏
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Graphic with headshot of Dr. Rebecca Elsner announcing her new position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Elsner for her promotion to Assistant Professor in Department of Immunology at the Pitt School of Medicine! Read more about Dr. Elsner's research buff.ly/Bg8kzYO

Check out PMI talks tomorrow at the SOM Grad Student Symposium:
@catmphelps.bsky.social (in @meisellab.bsky.social ), Daria Jelic (Doug Reed lab), Kelsey Ertwine (Abby Overacre lab), @febrigunawan48.bsky.social (in Renfeng Li lab), and @dariavantyne.bsky.social !

Graphic announcing Dr. Robert Binder's presentation at the Cell Stress Society international symposium

Catch Dr. Robert Binder's talk tomorrow at the Cell Stress Society International @stresscell.bsky.social symposium in Syracuse, NY. He'll be discussing his research on the importance of heat shock proteins for #cancer #immunosurveillance

Tullia Bruno, PhD - V Foundation We aim to stop suffering and deaths from ovarian cancer. Therefore, we will explore how to improve the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. Cancer forms when normal cells change and grow wildly.…

Congratulations to Dr. Tullia Bruno, assistant professor at @pitt-immunology.bsky.social and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, for receiving funding from the @thevfoundation.bsky.social to study the potential of B cells for treating #ovariancancer
buff.ly/Iwy4IWL

#VictoryOverCancer #CancerResearch