New lab babies!

Congratulations to Dr Kailash Singh and Dr Emanuela Pasciuto, who both had new babies in the past weeks. Lab babies number 12 and 13, respectively!

Lafferty debate, ASI

One of my favourite events of the scientific year, the humorous Lafferty debate at ASI 2019. 

This year, the value of mouse research. Fantastic points put forward on the incredible value that mouse research has given to immunology. Right now it is popular to diss mouse work, but it is worth remembering that almost the entire basis of immunology - the cell types, the immune responses, the origin of immune diseases - is based on mouse immunology. Yes, there are some differences between mouse and human, but the incredible advances in treating immunological diseases have come from work that developed in mouse. Parallel mouse-human research is the only method that has actually cured disease, so let's not throw out the winning formula.

Congratulations Dr Erika Van Nieuwenhove!

A huge round of congratulations for Dr Erika Van Nieuwenhove, who successfully defended her PhD. Erika set for gold standard for PhD defences, with an outstanding presentation and masterful question time. Erika's thesis was on inborn errors of immunity, with her PhD covering multiple new genetic mechanisms for PIDs, including mutations in ADA2 and Ikaros, plus a machine learning-driven approach to the diagnosis of JIA. The work is not yet finished either - stayed tuned for more Van Nieuwenhove papers on new genetic causes of neutropenia! A future leader in pediatric immunology and rheumatology!