Carver College of Medicine Events
Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Program Thesis Defense Seminar: Ben Kreitlow
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 8:30am
Ben Kreitlow is a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, as well as a student in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). His research has been conducted in Dr. Gordon Buchanan's laboratory.
If you are unable to attend in person, please consider showing your support and attending via Zoom. Please email britt-hokanson@uiowa.edu for the zoom link.
Neuroscience and Pharmacology Postdoctoral Seminar - Ava Carter, PhD
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
Evolving Responses to the Environment: Human-specific gene regulation in the brain
Ava Carter, PhD
HHMI Hanna H. Gray Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Neurobiology
Harvard Medical School
Department of Microbiology and Immunology Seminar Series
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Seminar Series https://microbiology.medicine.uiowa.edu/about-us/seminars
Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Guest Speaker: Dr. Erin Calipari, PhD
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 4:00pm
Pain Interest Group Seminar - Garry Gold, MD
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 9:00am to 10:00am
Osteoarthritis: New insights from Imaging
Garry E. Gold, MD
Stanford Medicine Professor of Radiology & Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Bioengineering & Orthopaedic Surgery
Stanford University School of Medicine
Recent Articles from the University of Iowa
An interleukin-27-centered cytokine circuit regulates macrophage and T cell interactions in autoimmune diabetes
Monday, October 6, 2025
In the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of autoimmune diabetes, interleukin (IL)-27 stimulates interferon γ (IFNγ) production by CD4 and CD8 T cells and is essential for disease development. Here, we tested the role of IL-27 in cellular communication. Single-cell RNA sequencing and T cell adoptive transfer showed that IL-27 intrinsically controlled the differentiation of islet-infiltrating CD4 T cells by driving them toward an IL-21^(+) Th1 phenotype. Consequently, IL-27 signaling in CD4 T...
A World Allergy Organization (WAO) manifesto for the worldwide approval of biologic therapies for food allergy
Thursday, October 2, 2025
No abstract
Clinical validation of an AI-based blood testing device for diagnosis and prognosis of acute infection and sepsis
Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Lack of reliable diagnostics for the presence, type and severity of infection in patients presenting to emergency departments with non-specific symptoms poses considerable challenges. We developed TriVerity, which uses isothermal amplification of 29 mRNAs and machine learning algorithms on the Myrna instrument to determine likelihoods of bacterial infection, viral infection and need for critical care interventions within 7 days. To validate TriVerity, the SEPSIS-SHIELD study enrolled 1,222...
NR4A nuclear receptor expression in human macrophages mediates apoptosis and controls Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth
Friday, September 26, 2025
Tuberculosis (TB), a significant global health issue, needs novel therapeutic approaches to reduce its burden. Studying host-pathogen interactions provides new targets for host-directed therapeutics (HDTs). Nuclear receptors (NRs) are important master regulators of cellular function and bona fide drug targets. Herein, we identify high basal expression of the NR4A NR family in human alveolar macrophages and determine that all 3 members (NR4A1, NR4A2, and NR4A3) are upregulated in response to...
SARS-CoV-2-derived RNA replicons as safe and effective vaccines
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
A collection of RNA replicons (RRs) derived from severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for use in vaccine design was constructed by genetic engineering using bacterial artificial chromosomes. A replicon, which was deleted in six genes (3a, 3c, E, 6, 7a, and 7b) was selected. Cells infected with the RR vaccine candidate led to the formation of virus-like particles that, due to the failure of being secreted, increase vaccine safety, in contrast to the wild type virions. The replicon...
LRP8 is a receptor for tick-borne encephalitis virus
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a severe and sometimes life-threatening disease characterized by viral invasion of the central nervous system with symptoms of neuroinflammation^(1,2). As with other orthoflaviviruses-enveloped, arthropod-borne RNA viruses-host factors required for TBEV entry remain poorly defined. Here we used a genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9-based screen to identify LRP8, an apolipoprotein E and reelin receptor with high expression in the...
Francisella tularensis-infected human neutrophils are trojan horses for infection of macrophages
Monday, September 22, 2025
Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects neutrophils (polymorphonuclear leukocytes, PMNs) and macrophages. Previous studies by our group and others demonstrate that F. tularensis inhibits the respiratory burst, escapes the phagosome, replicates in the cytosol, and significantly prolongs human neutrophil lifespan. However, the fate of infected neutrophils and their bacterial cargo are unknown. We now demonstrate that F....
The global, regional, and national burden attributable to low bone mineral density, 1990-2020: an analysis of a modifiable risk factor from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
Friday, September 19, 2025
BACKGROUND: Fractures related to osteoporosis and low bone mineral density lead to substantial morbidity, mortality, and cost to individuals and health systems. Here we present the most up-to-date global, regional, and national estimates of the contribution of low bone mineral density to the burden of fractures from falls and additional categories of injuries from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021.
Germline whole-exome sequencing reveals <em>FOXP3</em>-related gene variants conferring urinary cancer susceptibility and associated with immune escape
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Germline variants in a set of FOXP3-related genes confer inherent susceptibility to UTC and contribute to resistance against ICI. The immune-evading trait resulting from these variants and the downregulation of FOXP3 expression introduce a novel avenue for personalized medicine through germline and tumor sequencing.
Ebola virus' hidden target: virus transmission to and infection of skin
Friday, September 12, 2025
Ebola virus (EBOV), the causative agent of Ebola virus disease, remains one of the World Health Organization's top 10 threats to global health. Infectious EBOV virions can be found on the surface of skin late in infection and may be transmitted to others through skin-to-skin contact. We investigate in vivo EBOV tropism and the kinetics of virus movement to and from the skin. Increasing viral loads were detected over time in the skin of EBOV-infected non-human primates and mice, with antigen...