For those who haven't yet, go check out the hottest meeting in 2025. organized by the one and only @lai9uan & team. September 2025. Registration now open!.

RT @davidrliu: I discuss the urgent crisis from the loss of federal support of science in the US and recent clinical gene editing breakthro….

RT @StJudeResearch: We’re excited to announce Hongbo Chi, PhD, as the new Chair of the St. Jude Department of Immunology. His leadership wi….

RT @nightsciencepod: New Night Science Podcast episode! Martin Schwartz from @Yale talks with us about the importance of stupidity in scien….

RT @StephaniaLibre1: Neutrophils: the body’s frontline warriors! . They are the most abundance immune cells & their #1 job is eat bacteria….

RT @SanchoLab: #epw2025 @CNIC_CARDIO José María Adrover @niseto presented data on how Ly6Clow #neutrophils block capillaries & induce necro….

RT @PaulBieniasz: Just heard that our NIH funding to learn how to make broadly effective vaccines against pandemic threat coronaviruses is….

RT @Casanova_Acebes: Less than 24h for this amazing line-up! .We are soooo excited!.

Free link:

Thank you Miryam Naddaf for your beautiful News piece.

Big thank you to everyone @CNIC_CARDIO and @YaleVBTProgram @YaleIBIO who contributed to this paper with funding, ideas, reagents or just moral support. We owe you.

A final take-home message: In biology, cells are not what they look but what they do. Cell lineages are human divides, and the remarkable plasticity of myeloid cells teaches us that biology works by instructing functional programs at defined times and places.

Please find a lot more details, controls and ideas in the paper. With @alazozcan we are now exploring if this unconventional matrigenic capacity of immune cells matters in other physiological and pathological contexts… stay tuned for more surprises!.

Even more exciting was that, when we created a small wound in the skin, matrix-producing neutrophils would rapidly accumulate around the lesion to build a dense matrix structure (“ring”) that protected from small molecules or microbes… magical images from @red_ven

We interpret that neutrophils complement fibroblasts with their unique migratory properties, and capacity to reach places other cells can’t.

We propose that what is unique to neutrophils is their capacity to dynamically reinforce the matrix: the skin becomes stiffer at night-time, when neutrophils enter the tissue! An experiment from the mind and hands of @TVicanolo !

To further prove this, we generated a reporter mouse in which collagens produced by neutrophils (or fibroblasts, for comparison) are labeled with mCherry. a 2-year experiment!

But how do neutrophils mediate this unexpected property of the skin? We find that they are uniquely specialized in depositing matrix components, such as Collagen 3, in specific areas of the skin where large matrix fibers provide mechanical reinforcement to the skin

An exciting finding was that neutropenic mice, or mice lacking TGFb signaling in neutrophils, both have major alterations in the skin: matrix structure, composition and skin mechanics are dramatically altered, resulting in a more permeable skin

We report that neutrophils from the skin (and other epithelial barriers) are unique. They produce matrix components, including collagens and enzymes that remodel the matrix. This program, which is induced through TGFb signaling, is shared by mice and humans.