Jen Gommerman
Professor and Chair, Dept of Immunology, UofToronto. I study immune responses in the brain and the mucosae. Opinions are my own.
- It’s been a great week for the GommerLab. Today I am proud of Dr. Albert Nguyen who as a student then a postdoc saw this work to the finish line. Also grateful to Dr. Chrys Brown (MSKCC) - Working together we learned new things about cDC2 biology. Yay team science!
- Proud to share our work now out in Cell. We hope what we learned about IgA immune responses to rotavirus can be translated into better vaccines. Congratulations Dr. Kei Haniuda, an amazing PDF. TY @uoftmedicine.bsky.social for covering. temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/news
- Reposted by Jen GommermanFlorescu et al. reveal that dynamic changes in the brain, leptomeninges, and dural B cells are associated with age-dependent disease severity in an animal model of progressive #MultipleSclerosis. rupress.org/jem/article/... @jengommerman.bsky.social
- Big day for Toronto! And I'm not talking about the Jays. Voila our shiny new 7T MRI funded by CFI/ORF. This infrastructure will support interdisciplinary brain science research across the city. Inter-institute collaboration works! @uoftmedicine.bsky.social
- So grateful to be part of this important study. Cross-country method validation is a fun way to collaborate and key for establishing reproducible methods to measure mucosal antibodies.
- A fantastic 2-day retreat at Blue Mountain with @immunologyuoft.bsky.social . Big thanks to Dr. Carla Rotlin for serving as our keynote, to our student reps Maye and Boyd andr administrative staff (especially Vaish) for their hard work, and to our community for showing up and being kind!
- So pleased to see this published rupress.org/jem/article-... and look at what came out in the NYT crossword on the exact same day! Congrats Alex Florescu, Michelle Zuo and Angela Wang - the triple threat (former) PhD students who teamed up to make this happen. @rupress.org
- What's better than being introduced by a former trainee to give a talk? Being introduced by a former trainee (the amazing Dr. Natalia Pikor from ETH Zurich) sporting baby #2, the beautiful Elizabeth. #womeninscience
- Mom has had a bit of attention over the last few days. Which is great, because women born in 1943 have been pretty overlooked. I liked this one the best: www.cbc.ca/player/play/...
- The first week of term was extra interesting for me this year!
- My favourite academic duty is attending convocation. Congrats to our Immunology grads! @uoftmedicine.bsky.social
- And that’s a wrap - the GRC on Neuroimmune connections in health and disease here in Ciocco, Tuscany. Congrats to our poster winners and all our speakers on a great meeting!
- Reposted by Jen Gommerman🚨🦠🔬 Last month to register to the EMBO workshop on Adaptive Immunity in Barrier Tissues. 📍 Where: Basel, Switzerland 📅 When: 26th–29th August 2025 📝 Registration deadline: 30th May 2025 Childcare support & travel grants from @embo.org and @efis-immunology.bsky.social #EMBOBarrierTissues
- This is the best slide show finisher EVER! Baweleta Isho in my lab assembled all lab cats into this Biorender (acknowledged) montage.
- The GommerLab celebrates 5 GRADUATES: Salma Sheikh Mohamed PhD (Guardian of the mucosal galaxy) and for MSc: Sophie Wang, Catherine Chi, Numa Sayeed & Kennedy Hoven.
- Congrats to Dr. Salma Sheikh Mohamed on the successful defence of a brilliant thesis!!! I have learned so much from you during your time with @immunologyuoft.bsky.social and am looking forward to seeing what you do next.
- A perfect ending to the Canadian Society for Immunology meeting and a perfect beginning to a new tradition - the inaugural Gill Wu Mentorship award given to Gill herself. Thanks for mentoring us Gill. Most important job in academia. @superwuster.bsky.social
- Day 1 of CSI with keynote from Ira Mellman. And no it’s not a meeting about crime scenes, it’s the Canadian Society for Immunology. We had the name first.
- A wet start to the running season with @immunologyuoft.bsky.social participating in the 5k/8k spring run-off in High Park. As expected these young scientists kicked my butt. #wellness.
- Reposted by Jen GommermanThrilled to share our @elife.bsky.social paper "Inflammasomes primarily restrict cytosolic Salmonella replication within human macrophages" by 1st author Dr. @marisaegan.bsky.social (@cambupenn.bsky.social alum, now faculty @swarthmorecollege.bsky.social)! elifesciences.org/articles/90107 🧵(1/n)
- Reposted by Jen Gommerman🚨We're hiring another tenure-track at McGill University: focus on brain-body science! 👇 mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/mcgill...
- Reposted by Jen GommermanNIH “is expected to cut between 3,400 and 5,000 positions from its workforce of 20,000 in coming days.” Story by @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...
- Reposted by Jen GommermanWe are recruiting @ox.ac.uk @dunnschool.bsky.social for a joint project between Kevin Foster's group and mine! Cluster hire of two postdocs interested in: 1) Mucosal immunology and oral vaccine development my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... 2) Microbiology my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... Please share!
- Thanks you @charite.bsky.social and especially Francesca Ronchi for hosting me today for a fantastic visit. Seeing the Berlin spring start to emerge was an added bonus!
- Mother-son March break trips starting on the airport train to YYZ. 2025 = Berlin; 2017 = Paris. Where did the time go?
- Happy #internationalwomensday. I spent the morning on a sunny walk with 2 women I admire and love.
- Hi friends - leaving tomorrow for Berlin for spring break with my youngest son - an 18 y.o. aspiring jazz musician. We love history, music and art. We have some plans but curious to hear your recommendations. And I’m visiting the Charite too which will be awesome!
- Reposted by Jen Gommerman🔬 "CURIOSITY IS INFECTIOUS" – PhD Positions in Infection Research at HZI! We are looking for the next generation of pioneers in infection research! 🧬🦠💊 Explore exciting projects - from host-pathogen interactions and novel antiinfectives to molecular mechanisms of infection and immunity.
- 1/ @nabroderick.bsky.social and @harmitmalik.bsky.social have posed questions asking how to US students may seek opportunities outside the US (EU and Canada). As a Department Chair in Canada in #immunosky, I offer my perspective in this "bluetorial".
- 2/ While the deadline for PhD applications for Immunology @uoftmedicine.bsky.social has passed, prospective US students needs to know the Canadian graduate landscape for reference as there are rolling deadlines in other Canadian programs.
- 3/ While things are much better here in Canada than in the US - thankfully our granting agency #CIHR is not under DOGE attack - our grants have not kept up with the long overdue increases in PhD stipends. Consequently many PhD programs are shrinking. Trump tariffs will reduce grant buying power.
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View full thread7/ I do feel for all US students right now. My own son is waiting to hear back from PhD programs in the US where he hopes to do work in a specialized area of math. A whole cohort of students is being shafted. The same generation who suffered during Covid during high school. This really sucks. /fin
- Reposted by Jen GommermanJoin us on Thursday 25th April to celebrate World Immunology Day 2025. This year, we will discuss “The immune system and your brain”. Please register using the link to the event below www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/wor...
- Don’t underestimate the comfort of popcorn and white wine for dinner whilst enjoying the latest W&G (Oscar nominated!).
- Hi #immunosky. Looking for VI10YEN mice (Igh-Jtm1(VDJ-VI10)Zbz) that express a BCR heavy chain knock-in and light chain transgene specific for VSV. If you know where to get them, I would appreciate the tip. Thanks!
- Reposted by Jen GommermanSo THAT'S what Granzyme K does-- cleave complement and promote inflammation in the airway. Fascinating! #ImmunoSky #AsthmaSky #InflammationSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Jen Gommerman🎖️ Proud of our Managing Director, Yasmine Belkaid, named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur! A well-deserved honor for her pioneering work in immunology, microbiota & nutrition. Her research embodies the Pasteurian spirit of science for humanity! 👏 #Science #Immunology
- Reposted by Jen Gommerman#PsACAREHub #PsoriaticArthritis #AutoimmuneResearch #Immunology #AcademicHiring #ScienceJobs #Rheumatology
- Reposted by Jen Gommerman🚨 Exciting Announcement! We are thrilled to launch the Psoriatic Arthritis Collaborative and Applied Research Excellence (PsA CARE) Hub, the first research initiative in Canada dedicated to advancing the basic science of psoriatic arthritis (PsA).
- Reposted by Jen GommermanThe National Institutes of Health plans to severely cut the percentage of its grant money that can be used for overhead costs rather than research.
- 1/ Super excited to see this work from Dr. Kei Haniuda in my lab come together - check it out! Kei was curious about how rotavirus-specific IgA responses are generated in the gut. He found that anti-RV specific plasma cells appear in the MLN and Peyer's Patches very quickly - faster than IgGs
- 2/ RV-specific IgA plasma cells then home to the gut where they are long lived. The IgAs produced are considerably hypermutated and when expressed as recombinant IgA dimers, can prevent RV infection upon prophylactic administration to B cell-deficient mice.
- 3/ What surprised us was that while IgG responses to RV rely on MHCII expression by dendritic cells, this was NOT the case for RV-specific long-lived IgA PC. In fact, expression of MHCII on B cells was SUFFICIENT for the generation of long-lived RV-specific IgA plasma cells.
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View full thread6/ All together this study provides important information into how virus-specific IgA plasma cells are generated in the gut. Well done Kei! This was a heroic set of experiments that was a pleasure to watch unfold.
- Another amazing combination of sun, science and fellowship at McGill's Bellairs institute. Hearing from great scientists across biomedical disciplines triggers so many new collaborations and ideas. And the morning bootcamp keeps us all humble.
- Reposted by Jen GommermanWould you like to do a post-doc in the Bowdish lab? Interested in human immunology? Want to discover age-related differences in immune responses to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccinations and infections? Check us out! (Please share broadly)👩🔬🧪 #immunosky #IDsky www.bowdish.ca www.bowdish.ca/lab/wp-conte...
- Thanks @immunologyaai.bsky.social for the opportunity to talk about how AAI has been an important part of my scientific career, and for the honour of being named a distinguished fellow (or lady?). Membership in societies such as AAI and CSI is key to our individual and collective success.
- AAI member @jengommerman.bsky.social @uoftmedicine.bsky.social, speaks to us about being inducted in the 2025 class of Distinguished Fellows and their greatest hope for immunology. ⤵️ ow.ly/qa8w50UO57S
- Thanks for the shout out @immunologyuoft.bsky.social !
- Congratulations to Dr. jengommerman.bsky.social (Professor and Chair, Department of #Immunology, @uoft.bsky.social) for being selected by immunologyaai.bsky.social as a Distinguished Fellow of AAI — Class of 2025!
