Particularly significant to be awarded on the 2025 Italian Research day. I am proud to follow my passion for Research. Scientific research has a profound impact on technological breakthroughs, human health, economic growth and education, and should not be taken for granted.

I am honored and humbled to have been knighted by the Republic of Italy as Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica. Heartfelt thanks to the Italian Government, Italian Embassy, the Consul Raffaella Valentini, ISSNAF , my family, friends and colleagues.

RT @iedb_: Have you registered for the 2024 IEDB Virtual User Workshop yet? It will be held from November 5 to 7 on Zoom, so it's totally f….

We conclude that should a widespread human HPAI H5N1 outbreak occur, cross-reactive T cells might limit disease severity.

We found most previously identified CD4 and CD8 T cell epitopes are identical or highly conserved. Our experimental data shows a nearly complete preservation of pre-existing T cell responses in HPAI H5N1 recognition.

Is there some degree of H5N1 preexisting immunity in humans? Cross-reactive H5 antibodies are low or not detected. However, the N1 component is shared between seasonal H1N1 and H5N1.What about T cells? Our study fills in this gap-of-knowledge.

Recent cases of H5N1 2.3.4.4b flu from poultry and mammals into humans raised potential pandemic concerns. And a Recent report on H5 human case in Missouri increased the concern on potential human to human transmission:

Our new study is out:Collaboration of my lab @Alba_Grifoni and @BjoernPeters2 @ljiresearch @IEDB with flu experts @florian_krammer and  @rorydevries.

RT @ljiresearch: Exciting LJI faculty news: . T cell and #InfectiousDisease expert Daniela Weiskopf, Ph.D., (@Dani6020) appointed LJI Ass….

RT @aetarke: Our new study just published in @CellRepMed shows that SARS-CoV-2 vaccine breakthrough infections (BTIs) have a positive effec….

RT @ljiresearch: Congratulations to LJI Postdoc Alison Tarke, Ph.D., North American winner of the @ItalyMFA_int “Science, She Says! Award!”….

Congrats!!!.

RT @bpeters: I am excited to announce our paper predicting #immune responses after B. pertussis (#whoopingcough) booster vaccination based….

RT @iedb_: The IEDB's co-PI @bpeters recently published a paper with his team on predicting immune responses after B. pertussis (#whoopingc….

RT @issnaf: Read @issnaf president interview in 2/23 @startup_italia #tech section on our support to #internationalization of 🇮🇹 universiti….

A fantastic year for ISSNAF. Proud to be part of this organization, playing a key role in promoting Italian Culture and connecting Italian Scientists in North America @issnaf.

Congrats and well deserved!!!.

Following BTI, T cells also recognize some altogether new, variant-specific epitopes, particularly following omicron infection. Thus, the repertoire of T cell epitopes can at least partially keep up with variant evolution.

-in terms of cytokine production, there is a boost in polyfunctional T cells and with no increase in exhaustion markers following BTI.-novel T cell responses observed for other SAR2 antigens beyond spike; BTI do not impact S responses and rather increase the breadth of responses.