Becky Lamason

Hey alpha aficionados - it's almost time for CauloCon 2026! This free, virtual meeting will feature talks from @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social @thanbichlerlab.bsky.social and @lamasonlab.bsky.social with opps for trainee talks. Register using the link below. 👇

Check out our latest paper from first author Allison Scott using a powerful enrichment strategy to enable transcriptional profiling of the early stages of a rickettsial infection

First 🟦 post - my main postdoc work is out in the world! We designed a Cas12a-based genetic screen to identify host factors that contribute to infection by the tickborne pathogen Rickettsia parkeri, and stumbled across a really exciting direct interaction between host and bacterium🦠. Check it out!

Thrilled to share our latest story from postdoc @sitbrandon.bsky.social! Using a functional genetic screen, he discovered an unexpected way that Rickettsia relies on the host to stabilize the Sca2 surface protein that drives pathogen motility and virulence.

Congrats to postdoc Jane Lodwick for being named a @damonrunyon.org fellow!

www.damonrunyon.org/our-impact/n...

Congrats to postdoc Elayne Fivenson for being named a #JCCFellow!!

Pathogen-induced rerouting of host membrane trafficking Eukaryotic cell membranes are protective barriers that precisely control cargo import, trafficking, and export. In defiance of this control, intracell…

New review is out from first author Patrick Woida! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cytosolic companionship: Rickettsia connects with the endoplasmic reticulum. Stacey Gilk @sdgilk.bsky.social @unmccom.bsky.social highlights work from Acevedo-Sánchez et al. @lamasonlab.bsky.social (https://buff.ly/3CUnh2M) in Spotlight: https://buff.ly/40M2hTK

Congratulations Erin!!

Thanks @sdgilk.bsky.social and @jcb.org for highlighting our work!

Out now at @jcellbiol.bsky.social is our latest paper describing a novel contact between a bacterial pathogen and the rough ER.
rupress.org/jcb/article-...

A conserved interaction between the effector Sca4 and host clathrin suggests additional contributions for Sca4 during rickettsial infection | Infection and Immunity Intracellular bacterial pathogens must adapt to a host cell environment to enable their growth, survival, and dissemination. Consequently, they have evolved various mechanisms to manipulate their host environments to create a more hospitable niche (1–5). One common way for pathogens to interact with host cells is through surface-associated and secreted effector proteins. Bacterial pathogen effectors are known to exert diverse functions, including inducing cellular invasion, establishing vacuolar compartments, remodeling host organelles, modifying the host immune response, and facilitating the spread of these pathogens between cells (6–11).

Our collaborative work investigating the interaction between a Rickettsia parkeri secreted effector and clathrin is online in the December issue of Infection and Immunity. Thanks also to the editors for selecting it as an article of significant interest!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...