Becky Lamason
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lamasonlab.bsky.social
Becky Lamason
@lamasonlab.bsky.social
Associate professor at MIT studying host-pathogen interactions

lamasonlab.org
Reposted by Becky Lamason
First 🟦 post - my main postdoc work is out in the world! We designed a Cas12a-based genetic screen to identify host factors that contribute to infection by the tickborne pathogen Rickettsia parkeri, and stumbled across a really exciting direct interaction between host and bacterium🦠. Check it out!
Host cyclophilin-mediated maturation of an obligate intracellular bacterial surface virulence factor https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.28.684717v1
November 3, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Thrilled to share our latest story from postdoc @sitbrandon.bsky.social! Using a functional genetic screen, he discovered an unexpected way that Rickettsia relies on the host to stabilize the Sca2 surface protein that drives pathogen motility and virulence.
Host cyclophilin-mediated maturation of an obligate intracellular bacterial surface virulence factor https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.28.684717v1
October 29, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Congrats to postdoc Jane Lodwick for being named a @damonrunyon.org fellow!

www.damonrunyon.org/our-impact/n...
New Discoveries and Honors in Cancer Research | Damon Runyon
www.damonrunyon.org
September 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Congrats to postdoc Elayne Fivenson for being named a #JCCFellow!!
We're thrilled to announce the 2025 class of Jane Coffin Childs Fellows!

See our latest blog post and "look book" to learn more about our newest Fellows and their exciting research!

www.jccfund.org/blog/the-jan...

www.jccfund.org/wp-content/u...
www.jccfund.org
June 24, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Becky Lamason
Cytosolic companionship: Rickettsia connects with the endoplasmic reticulum. Stacey Gilk @sdgilk.bsky.social @unmccom.bsky.social highlights work from Acevedo-Sánchez et al. @lamasonlab.bsky.social (https://buff.ly/3CUnh2M) in Spotlight: https://buff.ly/40M2hTK
February 18, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Thanks @sdgilk.bsky.social and @jcb.org for highlighting our work!
Spotlight: @sdgilk.bsky.social highlights work from Acevedo-Sánchez et al. @lamasonlab.bsky.social (https://buff.ly/3CUnh2M) revealing that the cytosolic bacterial pathogen Rickettsia parkerii hijacks host machinery to form stable membrane contact sites with the ER. https://buff.ly/40M2hTK
February 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Out now at @jcellbiol.bsky.social is our latest paper describing a novel contact between a bacterial pathogen and the rough ER.
rupress.org/jcb/article-...
January 8, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Our collaborative work investigating the interaction between a Rickettsia parkeri secreted effector and clathrin is online in the December issue of Infection and Immunity. Thanks also to the editors for selecting it as an article of significant interest!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
A conserved interaction between the effector Sca4 and host clathrin suggests additional contributions for Sca4 during rickettsial infection | Infection and Immunity
Intracellular bacterial pathogens must adapt to a host cell environment to enable their growth, survival, and dissemination. Consequently, they have evolved various mechanisms to manipulate their host environments to create a more hospitable niche (1–5). One common way for pathogens to interact with host cells is through surface-associated and secreted effector proteins. Bacterial pathogen effectors are known to exert diverse functions, including inducing cellular invasion, establishing vacuolar compartments, remodeling host organelles, modifying the host immune response, and facilitating the spread of these pathogens between cells (6–11).
journals.asm.org
January 2, 2025 at 8:27 PM