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Rod Rahimi

@rodrahimi.bsky.social

4K followers 1.6K following 550 posts

Physician-Scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Posting about biology (mostly immunology) and medicine https://www.rahimi-lab.com

www.rahimi-lab.com

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Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · Jan 25

Hello Friends, I created a 5th #immunology Starter Pack. If you're an immunologist and you don't see yourself on the lists, let me know 🧪

go.bsky.app/PY5tCas

go.bsky.app/FmERUoD

go.bsky.app/6aT6qDS

go.bsky.app/QSEPDoj

go.bsky.app/Mdbpk7h

Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · Nov 29

Friends, it's fun to see the #immunology community continue to grow! I created a 4th Starter Pack to help folks find each other. If you're an immunologist and you don't see yourself on the lists, let me know 🧪

go.bsky.app/PY5tCas

go.bsky.app/FmERUoD

go.bsky.app/6aT6qDS

go.bsky.app/QSEPDoj

Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · Nov 19

Friends, the second #immunology starter pack filled in 3 days! I started a third to help folks new to BlueSky rebuild their network

Below are the links

If you're an immunologist and I have missed you so far, let me know 🧪

go.bsky.app/PY5tCas

go.bsky.app/FmERUoD

go.bsky.app/6aT6qDS

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Some of the layoffs at CDC are being REVERSED.
Here is my updated story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

More than 1,000 CDC staff receive layoff notices during government shutdown

Another round of mass layoffs has struck CDC. The agency had already been cut during a reorganization this year, and more employees are now being shed amid the government shutdown.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 3d

A cGAS-mediated mechanism in naked mole-rats potentiates DNA repair and delays aging

Naked mole rats get much older than closely related mamals of a similar size. cGAS mutations may have an important role in this.

www.science.org/doi/...
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A cGAS-mediated mechanism in naked mole-rats potentiates DNA repair and delays aging

Efficient DNA repair might make possible the longevity of naked mole-rats. However, whether they have distinctive mechanisms to optimize functions of DNA repair suppressors is unclear. We find that naked mole-rat cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine ...

www.science.org

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André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · Aug 21

Out today in @nature.com: Together with the Honigmann, Shevchenko, Drobot and Hof labs, we present a general workflow for imaging the localization and transport of individual lipids in cells and mapping their metabolism.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · 5d

“Dr Ramsdell, whose phone had been on airplane mode when the Nobel committee tried to call him, told the BBC's Newshour Programme that his first response when his wife said, ‘You've won the Nobel prize’ was: ‘I did not.’”🧪🩺🤣

Scientist on three-week off-grid hike finds out he's won the Nobel prize

Dr Fred Ramsdell was "living his best life" offline when the Nobel committee tried to contact him.

www.bbc.com

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Joana F Neves @nevesjf.bsky.social · 6d

PhD opportunity to study intestinal immune cells using our pioneer human organoid models at the Joana F Neves and Robin Dart labs @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social through #MRC Doutoral training program
kcl-mrcdtp.com/project/deco...
Applications opening soon!
#gdTcells #IBD #gut #organoids

Decoding γδ T cell-epithelial interactions in the human intestine in health and disease - MRC DTP

The human gut epithelium performs vital absorptive functions, while simultaneously forming a physical barrier between the gut contents and the body. As such it is essential for health and its dysregul...

kcl-mrcdtp.com

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Science News @scinews.bsky.social · 7d

The 2025 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

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saligramalab.bsky.social @saligramalab.bsky.social · 9d

Beautiful paper, worth a read, lots of #TCR work -of course I am biased as I love #TCRs www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Vaccination-induced T cell responses maintain polyclonality with high antigen receptor avidity

Clonal recruitment is governed by a T cell receptor avidity threshold, whereas probabilistic expansion preserves repertoire polyclonality.

www.science.org

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Victor Tatarskiy @greenrat.bsky.social · 10d

Neat trick if you polycolonal ab's suck. Incubate them with fixed cells with a KO of your protein of interest, then spin. Protocol here: www.med.upenn.edu/markslab/ass...
I was amazed how well it worked on first try (I'm sure that I can completely eliminate unspecific bands)
#WesternBlot #cellsky

On the left - western blot of B16F10 cells wt and KO for CDK8. Our in house produced antibodies give a lot of unspecific bands. On the right same probes with antibodies preincubated with fixed CDK8 KO cells - there is a specific band and faint unspecific bands, which can be probably eliminated with increase of amount of KO cells.

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 11d

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91. Gift link: nyti.ms/48FOuUn

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 12d

Canaries were used in coal mines MUCH more recently than you might think (1986!), but I have a really neat artifact to share with you & I hope it brightens your day.

Canaries were used as indicators for clear & odorless carbon monoxide (CO) gas that was a hazard to human health in deep coal mines.

Alamy image of a coal miner:
"Team member with canary in cage at Dinas mines rescue station Rhondda Valley South Wales UK used for detecting gas underground"
Date: 21 July 1992
Location:Rhondda Valley, South Wales Valleys, Cymru, UK

"Canaries were used as an early warning system underground in deep coal mines to detect the presence of toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane. When taken into the mine in an open cage the bird would usually die when gas was detected."

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13d

The fiscal year ends tomorrow.

Here are results from NIH Reporter downloaded an hour ago.

The total amount of funding committed for FY2025 at this point is 99.0% of that for FY2024. The same difference could be due to a variety of technical factors.

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$A graph showing the fraction of annual grant funding committed for NIH for fiscal years 2015 to 2025. The fiscal year 2025 lagged behind but then caught up over the last two months.$

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Mucosal Immunology @mucosalimmunol.bsky.social · 14d

It’s #MucosalMonday and time for a new podcast episode! This month, @lakmalisilva.bsky.social discusses the oral mucosa with @marionbrunck.bsky.social. Plus medical mysteries with @ashu-mangalam.bsky.social and how RSV can impact the microbiota with @kknoop.bsky.social www.iheart.com/podcast/269-...

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

MGH Division of Infectious Diseases @mgh-id.bsky.social · 13d

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Gene-Edited Pig Kidneys Show Promise in Transplantation

Early efforts using a CD40L-targeting agent supports genetically modified pig kidney transplants in select patients.

www.medscape.com

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 17d

It's probably the deterioration of social media (I hope) but i'm exposed to a lot less cool science. It used to feel like a new cool study is being preprinted/published every week, and lately it's rare (at least so it seems). Share a recent study that's worth knowing!

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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 16d

If you want to deep dive in to immunology you could do worse than Gabriel's evolutionary landscaping

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Replaying germinal center evolution on a quantified affinity landscape

Darwinian evolution of immunoglobulin genes within germinal centers (GC) underlies the progressive increase in antibody affinity following antigen exposure. Whereas the mechanics of how competition be...

www.biorxiv.org

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Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · 17d

“we leveraged new data and measures to consider an alternative history: If the permanent NIH budget had been 40% smaller, how would that have affected the medicines we enjoy today? Results suggest that such large cuts could affect a large share of drug approvals.”🧪🩺

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 17d

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What if NIH had been 40% smaller?

Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

www.science.org

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Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · 18d

"An emotional research team became tearful as they described how data shows the disease was slowed by 75% in patients...Prof Tabrizi says this gene therapy 'is the beginning' and will open the gates for therapies that can reach more people."🧪⚕️

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.com

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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 20d

Perspective @cp-immunity.bsky.social A roadmap for defining “extrafollicular” B cell responses
www.cell.com/immunity/ful... @stephanieeisen.bsky.social @vinuesalab.bsky.social et al

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Rod Rahimi @rodrahimi.bsky.social · 20d

Great piece by the Alegre lab

"it is clear that tolerant CD4 T cells cannot be classified as simply anergic or exhausted...we propose a framework in which the cell states adopted by CD4 T cells in the aforementioned conditions represent a spectrum of closely related tolerogenic states" #Immunosky

Cell-intrinsic CD4 T cell tolerance: a new frontier in therapy?

CD4 T cell tolerance is essential for immune homeostasis but its mechanisms remain unclear. Although regulatory T cells (Tregs) mediate T cell-extrins…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Doug Dyer @douglaspdyer.bsky.social · 21d

We now have a very exciting technician post advertised as part of our long term Wellcome Trust funded team investigating the role of the glycocalyx during CNS inflammation. Supporint the lab, developing glycan analysis and research experience www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Research Technician in the Glyco-immunology (Dyer) Lab:Oxford Road

Include: background, duties, essential skills and experience, length of contract, full or part-time. Keep to 150 words.

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk

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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 26d

'For decades, no intervention had put a dent in elevated levels of sweat chloride (...) Within days to a few weeks after the start of ivacaftor treatment, sweat chloride levels fell dramatically, with a purge of expectorated respiratory mucus and a corresponding gain in lung function.'

Transformative Research in Cystic Fibrosis | NEJM

Michael Welsh, Jesús González, and Paul Negulescu have won the 2025 Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for their roles in developing treatments for cystic fibrosis.

www.nejm.org

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Fiamma Salerno @fiammasalerno.bsky.social · 28d

Happy to share the first pre-print of the lab! 📢

💡Do you want to know how CD4 T cells decide their fate?

We used a mouse vaccination model to trace endogenous polyclonal CD4 T cells on their journey towards Th1 or Tfh differentiation.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Requirements for development of T-helper1 and T-follicular helper cells from a common precursor

Activated CD4 T cells become either T-helper (Th) or T-follicular helper (Tfh) cells that support cellular or humoral immunity. We have investigated how polyclonal, vaccine induced T cells in mice bif...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Rod Rahimi

Haky Im @hakyim.bsky.social · Sep 12

I'm hiring a computational biologist interested in complex trait genetics using deep learning approaches. Reach out to me, if interested.

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Doug Dyer @douglaspdyer.bsky.social · Sep 12

We have a new Postdoc position advertised as part of our recent long-term Wellcome funding to join an established Postdoc and technician. I’m so excited to explore the role of the glycocalyx in CNS-inflammation. So many tools and expertise to work with! www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Research Associate in in Neuro-Immunology and Extraceullar Matrix Biology (ImmunoMatrix):Oxford Road

Our Glyco-Immunology (Dyer) lab has produced published and preliminary data demonstrating that an under-appreciated structure, the glycocalyx, on endothelial- and immune- cells regulates immune cell recruitment by:

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk

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Joanna Groom @groomlab.bsky.social · Sep 12

Thrilled to have our latest research @wehi-research.bsky.social published in @natimmunol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This work was an outstanding partnership between talented PhD student Len Dalit (now postdoc, no 🦋) and bioinformatician @chinweetan.bsky.social

Thread below...

Divergent cytokine and transcriptional signatures control functional T follicular helper cell heterogeneity - Nature Immunology

Dalit, Tan and colleagues provide a multiomic profile of T follicular helper (TFH) cells responses to diverse pathogens, revealing a blueprint for transcriptional flexibility and new tools to interrog...

www.nature.com

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