Inflammatory Content

In this episode of Inflammatory Content, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero explores the debilitating skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and takes a deep dive into a recent Immunity paper that comprehensively examines the role of tertiary lymphoid structures in HS pathogenesis. HS has long defied simple classification, with prevailing disease models emphasizing hair follicle dysfunction, aberrant wound...

In this episode of Inflammatory Content, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero breaks down a new Nature paper showing that a subset of skin neutrophils doesn’t just fight bacteria—they also build extracellular matrix (ECM). After injury, these neutrophils rapidly assemble rings of ECM around the wound that strengthen the barrier and limit bacterial entry. This program depends on TGF-β signaling within neutrophils;...

In this episode of Inflammatory Content, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero dives into a landmark 2024 Nature study by Thierry Nordman and colleagues, titled “Spatial proteomics identifies JAKi as treatment for a lethal skin disease.” This cutting-edge research changes the game for patients suffering from toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN)—a devastating cutaneous adverse drug reaction with limited treatment optio...

In this episode, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero is joined by Dr. Dequina Nicholas. Dr. Nicholas is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Her laboratory studies endocrine diseases, including type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome. Specifically, her group investigates the intersection of the nutrient environment, the immun...

Today we’re going to do a journal club, but it will not be your run of the mill journal club. Everyone who knows me knows I am always searching for the latest technology that can increase my efficiency. Lately, I have been especially attuned to the newest developments in artificial intelligence. Well, I recently discovered a new AI tool by Google called NotebookLM that creates audio overviews of d...

One of the most common questions I get from undergraduate and graduate students is: How do I get a Ph. D. fellowship? During my Ph. D., I was fortunate to be awarded two fellowships, and I’ve received two more as a postdoc. In this solo episode, I provide an overview of the who, what, where, when, why, and how of Ph. D. fellowship applications, with the goal of helping you secure a fellowship to s...

In this episode, Kellen is joined by Dr. Aaron Oom, a Postdoctoral Scholar in the lab of Dr. Mark Mulligan at NYU Langone Health. Aaron is an expert in virology and immunology. He completed his Ph. D. in the lab of Dr. John Guatelli’s at UC San Diego. Aaron has made significant contributions to our understanding of viruses including HIV, Zika, and Dengue. Now, as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Mull...

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of disease-associated genetic variants. Many of these variants lie in non-coding regions of the genome, making interpretation of GWAS difficult and leading to poor translation into therapeutics. In this episode, Kellen reviews an exciting original article published in Nature in June 2024 titled, “A disease-associated gene desert dire...

Dr. Miguel Reina-Campos is an Assistant Professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in La Jolla, California. The Reina lab seeks to understand the underlying principles governing tissue immune networks that enable robust and long-term protection against infection and tumors. In this conversation, Miguel and Kellen talk about cancer, metabolism, tissue resident memory T cells, spatial transc...

Dr. Gur-Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Regenerative Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Gur-Cohen’s work has unearthed the lymphatic capillary network as a novel stem cell niche component, and her multidisciplinary strategy has advanced our knowledge of how stem cells synchronize and coordinate tissue regeneration. In this conversation, Shiri an...

In this episode, Kellen speaks with Dr. Mitchell Kronenberg. Mitch is the chief scientific officer of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, an adjunct professor at UC San Diego, and the co-director of a collaborative effort between the La Jolla Institute and UC San Diego called the Program in Immunology. Mitch and Kellen talk about unconventional T cells, autoimmunity, barrier immunity, chimeric...

In this episode, Kellen speaks with Dr. Amir Zarrinpar. Amir is a board-certified gastroenterologist and an assistant professor at UC San Diego in the department of medicine. He completed his undergrad at Harvard, M.D. and Ph. D. at UCSD, and postdoc at the Salk Institute in Satchin Panda’s lab. In this conversation, Amir and Kellen talk about diabetes and obesity, time-restricted feeding, and eng...

In this episode, Kellen speaks with Dr. David Gonzalez. David is an associate professor at UC San Diego in the pharmacology department of the school of medicine and the Skaggs school of pharmacy. He’s also the founder and director of the UCSD collaborative center for multiplexed proteomics. The Gonzalez lab researches host-microbe interactions and specializes in proteomics approaches. Kellen and D...

In this episode, Kellen interviews Dr. Victor Nizet, a distinguished professor of pediatrics and pharmaceutical sciences at UCSD and the vice chair of basic research in the department of pediatrics at UCSD. Kellen and Victor discuss one of the Nizet lab’s recent publications (led by Josh Sun, Pharm. D. Ph. D.) identifying novel treatment strategies for Staph aureus-induced sepsis. Kellen and Victo...

In this episode, Kellen sits down for a conversation with Richard Daneman, an associate professor of neurosciences and pharmacology at UCSD. Kellen and Rich discuss the Daneman lab’s recent paper identifying a novel role of fibroblasts in the central nervous system as well as Rich’s philosophies about science and mentorship. CNS fibroblast paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC787778...

In this episode, Kellen is joined by his thesis advisor Dr. Richard Gallo, a Distinguished Professor and the Founding Chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Diego. Kellen and Rich discuss two recent publications from the Gallo lab related to the host defense process “reactive adipogenesis” and also talk about Rich’s background, advice for trainees, and more....

Omental adipose tissue has been considered an important component of host defense since at least 1906 when it was deemed “the policeman of the abdomen”. The precise mechanisms underlying omental host defense, however, remain elusive. Here, Kellen discusses a recent publication investigating how omental host defense works. The report titled “Stromal cells covering omental fat-associated lymphoid cl...

This is a special episode of Inflammatory Content as it is our first episode with a guest! Dr. Alan O’Neill, Ph. D. joins Kellen to discuss his work on microbiome therapeutics—highlighting his recent report in eLife (link below)—as well as his overall scientific journey. Dr. O’Neill’s recent publication (open access): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8592530/ Dr. O’Neill graciously off...

Getting physically injured is no fun—it can often take long periods of time to recover. What if we could accelerate the wound healing process? Here, Kellen dissects an original article, titled “The commensal skin microbiota triggers type I IFN-dependent innate repair responses in injured skin”, that reveals mechanisms underlying skin injury and identifies novel therapeutic approaches to speed up h...

Cutting-edge approaches to combat tumor development involve transplantation of anti-tumor T cells and natural killer cells. Natural killer (NK) cells belong to a greater family of innate lymphoid cells which includes the more recently described group 1, 2, and 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). Unlike NK and T cells, the role of non-NK ILCs in tumor immunity remains unclear. In this episode, Kellen h...

Fragile X syndrome is a genetic disorder and the leading cause of intellectual disability and autism. There is no treatment. In this episode, Kellen discusses recent gene therapy advances for treating Fragile X syndrome. The article highlighted in this episode was written by X. Shawn Liu and colleagues from Rudolf Jaenisch’s lab at the Whitehead Institute and is titled “Rescue of Fragile X Syndrom...

Medical systems around the world need our help with COVID19. After sharing an important PSA, Kellen dives into the topic of unconventional T cells. These novel immune subsets have unique functions with great therapeutic potential. In this episode, a seminal paper by Michael Crowther and colleagues is discussed. It’s titled, “Genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screening reveals ubiquitous T cell cancer target...

Antibiotic resistance is an enormous public health problem. The prevalence of superbugs is increasing over time, whereas the number of drugs available to treat these microbes is not. Bacterial communities called biofilms harbor strains of bacteria that persist in the face of antibiotic therapy. Thus, in order to tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance, we must better understand biofilms. In th...

Engineering bacteria to kill cancer cells… Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, it’s actually all science, no fiction! Sreyan Chowdhury and colleagues from Tal Danino’s lab at Columbia University describe this novel therapeutic approach in their recent Nature Medicine publication, “Programmable bacteria induce durable tumor regression and systemic antitumor immunity”. Paper: https://www.ncbi....

In this episode, Kellen covers a topic near and dear to his heart – group two innate lymphoid cells, or ILC2s. Specifically, Kellen discusses the original article titled “Neutrophils restrain allergic airway inflammation by limiting ILC2 function and monocyte–dendritic cell antigen presentation”, which was published in the journal Science Immunology in November 2019 by Dhiren Patel and colleagues....