Excited to announce the first paper from our lab identifying a family of anti-inflammatory compounds from vaginal lactobacilli #microbiome #WomensHealth https://t.co/pqTXY4TtsV (1/8)

It was an honor to collaborate with Prof. Diane Griffin on this study just out @JIDJournal. Diane was an inspiration for her many contributions to virology, immunology, #vaccines, and protecting the world from #measles virus. Her loss is keenly felt.

Happy to share our latest work by @YYexin et al. on antibody-mediated control of endogenous retroviruses in mice. In the process, we found “natural antibodies” with broad reactivity against enveloped viruses. Here is how “panviral” antibodies work 🧵(1/) https://t.co/kU8NBK5KF9

What's next? We're working on host and microbe signaling pathways activated by these BCs. I'm so happy I get to work with an incredible team of lab members @GopinathLab @HarvardIID and collaborators beyond. This was a big team effort and so, so fun to figure out. (8/8)

Finally, can we see this in people? We teamed up with Dr. Mitchell @bostonvaginadoc who gave us samples from people with BV and people with lactobacilli-dominant microbiomes. We see enriched BCs is people with lactobacilli-dominant microbiomes! (7/8)

Could this work as a therapeutic? We applied our top anti-inflammatory compound (BC6) intravaginally to HSV-2 infected mice and it reduced disease and lowered inflammatory cytokines! (6/8)

Interestingly, these compounds show cell type-specific effects, inhibiting type I IFN receptor and TLR activation in macrophages but only TLR activation in fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Nice way to maintain antiviral immunity in barrier cells! (5/8)

The majority of these compounds (6/9 BCs) were anti-inflammatory. We synthesized 3 candidates and found they retained activity. (4/8)

We teamed up with Clardy Lab @harvardmed. Ki Hyun Kim and Sunghee Bang fractionated supernatant from a candidate L. crispatus. They took active fractions that suppressed both TLR3 and TLR4 activity and identified a number of beta-carboline compounds, BCs. (3/8)

We know most vaginal lactobacilli are associated with health and reduced inflammation (L. iners is an interesting exception), but how? We found that supernatant from L. crispatus but not L. iners suppressed inflammatory signaling downstream of TLR2,3 and 4 activation. (2/8)

We know most vaginal lactobacilli are associated with health and reduced inflammation (L. iners is an interesting exception), but how? We found that supernatant from L. crispatus but not L. iners suppressed inflammatory signaling downstream of TLR2,3 and 4 activation. (2/8)

The panel discussion next week, "Combatting the global threat of dengue fever," features IID Prof. Dan Neafsey (@dneafse) as one of the speakers! 🚨 Mark your calendars for Tuesday, Oct. 8, from 12:30 pm-1:15 pm! 🚨

This is the beginning of the end of our long list of manuscripts in preparation! Single-cell virology: On-chip, quantitative characterization of the dynamics of virus spread from one single cell to another

Please share with your networks. This is next week 🎉 Free registration for online event. Visit https://t.co/Xws5I4DHRA to register.

Do you think that doing science costs the same anywhere around the world? The answer is NO! and as illogical as it may sound, it costs more to do science in low-resourced countries than in high income countries. A couple of examples from my own experience as a PI in Mexico (1/🧵)

🚨🚨I’m excited to present our lab’s new paper where we tried to provide a mechanistic explanation for the link between antibiotic use and risk of developing inflammatory bowel diseases (#IBD). A 🧵/1 https://t.co/k2wUPoIwTm

Please share with your networks. #africanmicrobiomes for #globalhealth Be part of this #transformative journey in microbiome research. Register today: https://t.co/SvcYKnhVof @gatesfoundation @GIFT_for_Africa @SciforAfrica @KEMRI_Kenya @UCTIDM @DTHF_SA @CAPRISAOfficial

We are on the look out for postdocs to join the Lieberman Lab at MIT. Areas include: -Connecting bacterial warfare to strain dynamics in vivo -Evolution and transmission of strains in humans -Revisiting role of microbes in acne Take a look at our recent preprints and reach out!

Congrats to @tianyangmao and all authors on this study! Intransal neomycin protects against viral transmission! And very neat proof-of-concept data that intranasal neomycin induces ISGs in people.