Carver College of Medicine Events
Anatomy of an Idea - Kate Kragness
Friday, November 13, 2026 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Women In Micro & Immuno Coffee Hour
Monday, November 16, 2026 11:00am to 12:00pm
Join us for the Women in Micro & Immuno Coffee Hour. It is the monthly coffee hour on the second Monday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon in 1289 CBRB. Enjoy coffee, pastries and contribute to the discussion!
This is open to ALL — students, staff, postdocs, and faculty interested in promoting women in science.
Speakers change monthly. Contact: [email protected] for details.
BMB Research Workshop
Tuesday, November 17, 2026 12:30pm to 1:20pm
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology holds research workshops featuring internal speakers on Tuesdays, 12:30-1:20pm. For Fall 2026, these will occur in 1117 MERF. Presentation titles are not publicly available due to the use of unpublished research. Individuals interested in attending workshops or being added to the email list should contact the office at [email protected].
Aug. 25: CANCELED
Sept. 1: CANCELED
Sept. 8: RESERVED
Sept. 15: Steve Guzman, PhD, Postdoc Fellow, Biomedical...
Recent Articles from the University of Iowa
Establishment of a cochlear lymphatic vascular network and immune surveillance system following cochlear implantation
Friday, November 6, 2026
Hearing loss is a highly prevalent sensory abnormality often addressed with cochlear implants (CI) that provide auditory rehabilitation for deaf patients. However, a universal inflammatory foreign body response (FBR) to the implanted materials negatively impacts CI outcomes. The mechanistic basis for immune cell infiltration and propagation of the FBR directed against CIs is not defined. Using mouse CI models and quantitative, highly tractable reporters for lymphatics, blood vessels, and immune...
Human Pegivirus Type 1 Coinfections: Epidemiology, Heterogeneity and Clinical Implications
Thursday, November 5, 2026
This narrative review explores the complex landscape of coinfections involving Human Pegivirus Type 1 (HPgV), a member of the Hepaciviridae family previously known as GB virus type C or hepatitis G virus. Structurally similar to hepatitis C virus (HCV), HPgV is lymphotropic and while viraemia in healthy donors is asymptomatic, it has been associated with the onset of several non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes. We begin with an overview of HPgV's genomic features, classification, transmission routes...
Distinct T cell correlates of COVID-19 risk before and after a second booster in previously SARS-CoV-2 infected versus naïve COVAIL trial participants
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
The relationship between SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses and COVID-19 risk is incompletely understood, particularly after variant-adapted booster receipt. We assessed Spike-specific and Nucleocapsid-specific CD4^(+) and CD8^(+) T cell responses, measured by validated 27-color intracellular cytokine staining assay, as correlates of COVID-19 risk over 6 months in COVAIL recipients of a second SARS-CoV-2 booster on Day 1 (D1). Among one-dose mRNA recipients, D15 CD4 + T cell IFN-γ and/or IL-2...
Engineering a Hyper-Adherent <em>E. coli</em> Nissle Probiotic Strain That Reduces Intestinal Carriage of <em>Salmonella</em> Pathogens in Poultry
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Poultry meat and eggs are major sources of Salmonella foodborne illness, due to carriage of these bacterial pathogens in the intestinal microbiome of chickens, which is an ongoing food safety issue throughout the world. Reducing or eliminating the carriage of Salmonella in poultry would significantly improve food safety and reduce cases of human salmonellosis. This study represents a new approach to reduce or eliminate carriage of Salmonella in poultry flocks. We have created an E. coli Nissle...
Spatial Transcriptomic Profiling of the Human Placenta in Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection: A Broad Antiviral Response with Concurrent Suppression of Trophoblast and Vascular Programs
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common congenital infection and a leading infectious cause of childhood hearing loss and neurodevelopmental disability. The cellular organization of the placental response to infection is incompletely defined. We applied Visium CytAssist spatial transcriptomics to formalin-fixed tissue from two CMV-infected and two uninfected late-gestation placentas and annotated the major maternal and fetal cell populations by reference-based label transfer. Across...
Global, regional, and national burden of unintentional poisoning, 1990-2023: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
BACKGROUND: Unintentional poisoning is a preventable cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality, yet global patterns, trends, and inequalities remain incompletely characterised. Within the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) framework, unintentional poisoning includes poisoning by carbon monoxide and poisoning by other means, a category largely informed by pesticide poisoning codes plus some indirect capture of other poisoning as part of the GBD re-distribution process. Poisonings by...
Dietary fiber selectively regulates intestinal persistence of probiotic bifidobacteria
Saturday, October 24, 2026
Bifidobacteria dominate the gut microbiota of breast-fed infants, and are strongly associated with human health, including immune regulation, colonization resistance, and protection against inflammation. However, bifidobacteria persist at high abundance after weaning in only a subset of individuals, and the factors that regulate intestinal persistence of bifidobacteria are poorly understood. Using gnotobiotic mouse models, we identified a common dietary fiber, raffinose, as a critical...
Conserved nucleocapsid epitopes induce cross-reactive CD4(+) T-cell responses with selective protection against human coronaviruses in mice
Thursday, October 22, 2026
No abstract
The Role of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETosis) in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Molecular Mechanisms, Pathogenic Roles, Diagnostic Biomarkers, and Emerging Therapeutic Strategies
Friday, October 16, 2026
Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are web-like structures comprising chromatin scaffolds decorated with cytotoxic granule proteins released during a specialized form of neutrophil cell death termed NETosis. Although NETs function as a critical antimicrobial defense mechanism, their dysregulation contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In SLE patients, both excessive NET formation by proinflammatory low-density granulocytes (LDGs) and impaired NET...
Efficient colonic colonization by <em>Campylobacter jejuni</em> requires the heme receptor ChuA
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Previous research demonstrated that Campylobacter jejuni encodes a heme utilization system that facilitates heme-dependent growth under iron-limiting conditions, and that transcription of this system is induced during human infection. Despite these observations, it remained unknown whether the heme transport system is required for colonization and disease in a susceptible host. To address this, we created individual non-polar deletion mutants of each component of the heme transport system and...