Zachary Van Roy, an MD/PhD trainee in the laboratory of Dr. Tammy Kielian, has indeed had a very productive month as he has published two first author manuscripts in Nature Communication and Cell Reports Medicine. The Cell Reports Medicine manuscript, which he co-first authored with Drs. Gunjan Kak and Lee Korshoj, is the first to describe the immune landscape during craniotomy infections in patients. Transcriptional profiling revealed a strong Hypoxia-inducible factor 1a (HIF-1α) signature in patient samples. A “bedside to bench” approach was then used to demonstrate the importance of this pathway in a murine model of craniotomy infection. This conserved pathway may represent future therapeutic targets for craniotomy infection. Zach created this image characterizes the immune responses to a craniotomy infection, with leukocytes depicted as stars migrating towards the moon surface represented by a micro-CT model of a resected bone flap with surgical screw holes symbolizing craters. S. aureus biofilm colonizes the moon surface, the predominant pathogen in infected patients. The image is overlayed with the HIF-1α gene and the chemical structure of chetomin (HIF-1α inhibitor) is a constellation.
Immunoscape
Immmunoscape figure by Zachary Van Roy, MD/PhD trainee