Carver College of Medicine Events
Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Seminar, Jean-Ju Chung, PhD
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 9:30am to 10:30am
REDCap Basic Training
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 10:00am to 11:30am
This is the first step in the REDCap training series. In this training, we will build a new REDCap project from scratch and cover basic features such as:
• Building forms with proper field types and validation
• Assigning user permissions
• Project backup and overview with data dictionary, codebook, pdf, and xml
• Ensuring your project works properly by testing with real world application
• Making mid-study modifications safely after having started data collection in production
• Creating and...
BMB Research Workshop
Tuesday, October 6, 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 Presentation titles are not publicly available due to the use of unpublished research.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 biochem@uiowa.edu.
Aug. 25: CANCELED
Sept. 1: CANCELED
Sept. 8: RESERVED
Sept. 15: Steve Guzman, PhD, Postdoc Fellow, Biomedical...
Seminar Series: Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Each semester, we are proud to host outstanding seminar speakers. Everyone is encouraged to attend. Visit website: https://microbiology.medicine.uiowa.edu/about-us/seminars
Recent Articles from the University of Iowa
Loss of CsrA in <em>Acinetobacter baumannii</em> leads to lethal dysregulation of alanine metabolism
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Posttranscriptional regulation is a key mechanism by which bacteria coordinate gene expression in response to changing environments. In the human pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, the importance of posttranscriptional gene expression control is exemplified by CsrA, a highly conserved posttranscriptional regulator that is essential for viability in multiple settings, ranging from growth in rich laboratory media to infection-relevant conditions like human serum. However, csrA is dispensable for...
IRE1alpha Is Associated with Host Lipid Biosynthesis During Human Coronavirus OC43 Infection
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Research into the replication of human coronaviruses has surged, but much remains unknown regarding the host factors that influence disease. These viruses often activate cellular endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress responses, benefiting from incompletely understood downstream effects. In this study, we investigated the role of the host ER stress response component, inositol-requiring enzyme 1 α (IRE1α), in regulating lipid metabolism during human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) infection. We found...
Impaired regulatory T-cell-mediated immune tolerance promotes neurodegeneration in glaucoma
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Neurodegenerative diseases are increasingly recognized to involve detrimental interactions between the immune and nervous systems, yet whether failure of peripheral immune tolerance actively drives neuronal loss frequently remains unclear. Here, using primary open-angle glaucoma as a model of chronic neurodegeneration, we demonstrate that dysregulated adaptive immunity is sufficient to promote retinal ganglion cell degeneration. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from glaucoma patients, but not...
The Virtual Eye: An Integrative Multiscale Framework for Mechanistic Modelling of Ocular Physiology and Disease
Monday, September 21, 2026
The Virtual Eye initiative described here seeks to build a versatile and integrative in silico platform, 'The Virtual Eye' that can capture and simulate the biology, physiology and function of the human eye, from molecular interactions to organ-level behaviour, in both healthy and diseased states. This effort has the potential to substantially deepen our understanding of the visual process, clarify the mechanistic basis of ocular diseases across multiple spatial and temporal scales, and support...
A Zur-dependent regulatory RNA involved in maintaining zinc homeostasis in Staphylococcus aureus
Friday, September 18, 2026
Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are key drivers of bacterial adaptation to environmental fluctuations, including iron and manganese restriction imposed by the host. This study explored the repertoire of sRNAs produced by the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in response to metal limitation. Two sRNAs were identified, S1077 and ZinS, that were regulated by zinc (Zn) availability. Further investigations revealed that, similar to the cnt operon from which it derives, S1077 synthesis is controlled...
Effect of IL-4RαR576 polymorphism on response to dupilumab in asthma, a genotype-stratified, randomized, placebo- controlled trial (IDEA Trial): Design, Rationale, Methods, Strategies, and Lessons Learned
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
BACKGROUND: Asthma is a heterogeneous chronic disease, disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minorities, with persistence and severity influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. The IL-4RαR576 variant occurs more commonly in racially minoritized, and the genotype, independent of race, is associated with severe, exacerbation-prone asthma. IDEA (Investigating Dupilumab's Effect in Asthma by genotype) NCT02570984 is a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial designed to...
Virus-specific memory CD4 T cells sustain long-term numerical and functional impairment following whole-body irradiation
Thursday, September 10, 2026
The increasing demand for nuclear power and radiotherapy has expanded potential avenues for human exposure to whole-body irradiation (WBI), underscoring the need to understand its impact on immune cells. While prior studies have explored radiation-induced disruptions in immune homeostasis, the direct effect of WBI on pre-existing memory CD4 T cells remains elusive. Using T cell receptor transgenic CD4 T cell chimeric mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-Armstrong, we demonstrate...
Global, regional, and national prevalence of second-hand smoke and attributable disease burden in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
Monday, September 7, 2026
BACKGROUND: Second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure remains a major source of morbidity and mortality among non-smokers. This study presents the first dedicated Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) publication to systematically quantify SHS prevalence and evaluate its effect as a global risk factor across a broader range of outcomes.
Whole-exome sequencing in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder and chronic tic disorders identifies 36 large-effect risk genes
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic tic disorders (CTDs) are highly heritable. Rare mutations confer large risks for OCD and CTDs but only four high-confidence (hc) genes have been identified. Here we analyzed whole-exome sequencing data from 3,964 individuals with OCD, CTDs or both, including 2,418 trios. We found an excess in cases of de novo and rare protein-damaging mutations and identified 36 hc genes (false discovery rate < 0.1), including four previously identified hc genes...
B. burgdorferi infection alters synovial macrophage responses in a human ex vivo model of Lyme Arthritis
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
INTRODUCTION: Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection can persist in protected sites like articular joints, presenting as migratory oligoarthritis characteristic of Lyme Arthritis (LA). LA is characterized by intermittent synovitis and joint swelling, but why acute infection is relapsing-remitting and not persistent remains unknown. We hypothesize that the immune response is unique to the joint space, particularly the response of Resident Synovial Macrophages (RSMs), and may be important in...