A small primer on this #NobelPrize award today. This prize was for combining two separate fields of immunology research - genetic research on IPEX and immunology research of regulatory T cells (#Tregs), with enormous impact on biology/medicine

https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/1975131786448699467

First, let's talk about IPEX. It is short for "Immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked syndrome", which is a bit of a mouth-full. Essentially, it is a severe autoimmune disease, impacting boys, which is fatal in early childhood unless treated.

Biggest paper yet from the lab out now in @ImmunityCP! It is a massive #openscience resource on #tissueTregs, and what makes #Tregs tick in the #tissues. Spoiler-alert: Tissue Tregs are really different from what we all thought. 🧵 1/21

sciencedirect.com/science/articl… Where do #TissueTregs come from? The previous standard model is the "seeding and specialisation" model, where #Tregs enter from tissues, turn on a dedicated transcriptional program per #tissue, and dwell indefinitely in that tissue as specialised cells. 2/21

Biggest paper yet from the lab now a #preprint on @biorxivpreprint. A massive #openscience resource on #tissueTregs, and what makes #Tregs tick in the #tissues.

Spoiler-alert: Tissue Tregs are really different from what we all thought. 🧵 1/21

biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Go back to that sweet innocent time in the spring of 2016. #Brexit was an unlikely joke, @HillaryClinton was cruising to a landslide against some reality TV starlet, and we thought that #TissueTregs formed by seeding tissues and differentiating into unique terminal cells. 2/21

For anyone doing #flowcytometry, would you like to have a new protocol that reduces your #antibody costs by ~10-fold and also gives you higher quality data, with better signal-to-noise ratio?

Yes? Then read work by @olivertburton and @CarlyEWhyte. 1/6

…rentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.10… Bottom-line-up-front: stain overnight. Antibody staining is sensitive to both dilution and time, so a titration that gives crummy staining in 30' can actually give beautiful staining overnight. The best part is, that lower dilution gives less background, for better separation 2/6

Excited to share our new paper out at @NatImmunol today! We discovered the limiting factor for #brain #Tregs is #IL2, and developed a new #genetherapy to treat #traumaticbraininjury and other #neuroinflammatory pathologies. 1/12

nature.com/articles/s4159… The work started more than 10 years ago, after my brother Russell died following a #traumaticbraininjury. The more I read into it, the more treatable #neuroinflammation seems. Obviously there is a #brain delivery problem, but stopping #inflammation is basic #immunology! 2/12

We have an exciting new #preprint on @medrxivpreprint ! A novel class of #primaryimmunodeficiency, with the discovery of ITPR3 mutations in two families with combined immunodeficiency. As always, studying #PID teaches us so much about biology! 1/8

medrxiv.org/content/10.110… The work is based on patients identified @UZLeuven by Rik Schrijvers and @IsabelleMeyts. Both patients had a combined #immunodeficiency with sensitivity to infections, one complicated by peripheral #neuropathy and one by #autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Over to the gene hunters! 2/8

I am really thrilled to release #AutoSpill onto @biorxivpreprint. It is a novel method for applying compensation to #flowcytometry data, which reduces the error by ~100,000-fold. It is thanks to AutoSpill that we can push machines to their max colours

biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #AutoSpill is a beautiful example of what #maths can add to #immunology, led by the talented Dr Carlos Roca.

It has really open up my eyes to the potential of #computationalbiology, and is the reason why we have a new #datascience position available:

babrahaminstitute.livevacancies.co.uk/#/job/details/…

@sakisci @BetterAcademia @AcademicChatter @OpenAcademics I'm a first gen high-school graduate, now first gen PhD and professor :)

Don't be too scared off by the comments you have here. Most only really apply to the US. I'm assuming that you are doing a biomed PhD in the UK based on your profile, so a few tips... 1/n @sakisci @BetterAcademia @AcademicChatter @OpenAcademics First, getting into a PhD program is tough. You've made it, congratulations! By definition you have the intellectual ability to finish. Never doubt that.

That said, you will doubt it. Especially at the 3-6 month period and at ~2 years in. That is normal.

2/n