Manuela Raffatellu
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manuelar.bsky.social
Manuela Raffatellu
@manuelar.bsky.social
From Sardinia to California - Professor at UCSD - Love microbes. Find me by the ocean or at my Pilates studio
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Hi everyone, this is my first post here and it’s great to get so many new connections. My lab works on host-pathogen interaction, particularly in the context of Salmonella infection, mucosal immunity, microbiota-host interaction, microbial competition. We are a fun, diverse, enthusiastic group.
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)
October 15, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Dear #microbiology and #immunology community- I took a break from social media after I deleted my Twitter account, but am back here. Please help me rebuild my community by following me and amplifying this message- I will follow you back. Thank you and I look forward to our many interactions!
October 5, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.
Commensal yeast promotes Salmonella Typhimurium virulence - Nature
Commensal Candida albicans enhances the virulence and dissemination of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium.
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Airport reunion 🥳 Loved catching up with my postdoctoral mentor @manuelar.bsky.social at the airport during her layover in Munich ☀️❣️
August 10, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
We have decided to ban the use of GenAI for research, writing & creative work at our organization.

In fact, we make people sign an agreement saying that their research, analysis, writing, and creative work are *theirs* and not done by GenAI.
July 17, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Happy that our manuscript showing that PgtE protease enables Salmonella to evade C3-mediated serum and neutrophil killing is published in mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... - check out the companion paper from @rtsolis.bsky.social and team, focused on PgtE in the African Salmonella strain ST313
PgtE protease enables virulent Salmonella to evade C3-mediated serum and neutrophil killing | mBio
Non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars primarily cause gastrointestinal infections but can also lead to bacteremia through mechanisms that are not completely elucidated. Here we show that the outer membran...
journals.asm.org
July 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
It was so nice to teach about Immunity to Bacterial Pathogens for the @aai.org Intro Course. I love to be part of this great training opportunity that AAI provides.
Dr. Manuela Raffatellu @manuelar.bsky.social concluded Part 1 of the Intro Course yesterday with an insightful lecture on the intricate interplay between bacterial pathogens and the host immune system! #AAICourses #ScienceEducation #Immunology
July 12, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
The new open access policy of NIH will take effect next week (July 1st). All NIH funded research 🔬🧪🧬accepted after July 1st must be open access upon publication. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology
June 26, 2025 at 9:47 PM
What do I love the most about UCSD? My amazing colleagues. Congratulations @chulab.bsky.social and @alistairrussell.bsky.social on your promotion and to Kees Murre for being elected to the NAS!
June 27, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
So important! Please contact your Republican senators, especially Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). 🙏 amplify!
As Robert Kuttner writes, the NIH will need support from Republican Senators to avoid draconian cuts to its FY2026 budget.

prospect.org/politics/202...
Will the Senate Save NIH?
Rescuing biomedical research is every bit as important as saving Medicaid.
prospect.org
June 25, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Former and current member of the Raffatellu lab were well represented at #ASMicrobe in LA - it was great seeing everyone!
June 23, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Check out the preview written by @romanagerner1.bsky.social on the excellent study from @mucosalimmunology.bsky.social about exploiting bacterial competition for rational design of mucosal vaccines
Honored to write a preview on Emma Slack’s latest work in Science: ‘Vaccine-enhanced competition permits rational bacterial strain replacement in the gut.’ A novel strategy to selectively replace microbial strains in the gut. Truly elegant science!

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lFMi6t8JE...
authors.elsevier.com
June 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Another amazing manuscript and resource led by @pieterdorrestein.bsky.social and team! So happy to be part of it, and to start using these new class of metabolites in the context of infection. Stay tuned!
June 12, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Science has more than doubled our life expectancy, revolutionized our quality of life, and powered unprecedented technological advancement. But can we afford to take scientific progress for granted? What happens when science funding is slashed, diversity is suppressed, and pseudoscience takes hold?
June 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Today, the ERC formally adopted a decision to increase its support for researchers moving to Europe.

On top of its normal grants, the ERC offers 'start-up' funding to help PIs establish laboratories / research teams in Europe.

This extra funding is now x2 (up to €2 million!)

europa.eu/!6Vdgmp
May 16, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Excitement plus!! The full program is online for the upcoming GRC Salmonella Biology and Pathogenesis meeting. There is still some room in the schedule for short talks, which will be chosen from submitted abstracts. Submit your abstract, if you haven't done so already.
www.grc.org/salmonella-b...
kermit the frog from the muppet show is standing in front of a red curtain .
ALT: kermit the frog from the muppet show is standing in front of a red curtain .
media.tenor.com
April 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Thrilled 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)
elifesciences.org
April 2, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
I have been teaching classes on the gut #microbiome for almost 20 years and always struggled to have a good book to recommend. Finally there is one. Fergus Shanahan's "Fast Facts: The Gut Microbiome" provides expert insight, is brilliant, and it is free.

doi.org/10.1159/isbn...
Fast Facts: The Gut Microbiome
‘Fast Facts: The Gut Microbiome’, though pithy and concise, is amazingly comprehensive and takes the reader through all major aspects of the human gut micr
doi.org
March 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
Exciting #PhD project where you will learn how to study #Host-pathogen interactions including #infection models, cell biology, microbiology, molecular biology and bioinformatics - you will address questions important to global health including #typhoid fever and invasive NTS disease #iNTS pls share
🎓 #PhDPosition !

🔍 Mechanisms of infection and virulence of Salmonella in the liver with Dr Naiara Beraza and Dr Rob Kingsley @drrobkingsley.bsky.social

➡️ buff.ly/4Md1y29
March 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
University of California announced a systemwide hiring freeze. This affects not 1 but 10 campuses (including UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, UC San Diego among others) plus 3 national labs with impact on medical and scientific research and local economies.

www.reuters.com/world/us/uni...
University of California sets hiring freeze in anticipation of Trump cuts
The University of California has imposed a system-wide hiring freeze and made additional cuts, its president said on Wednesday, as part of efforts to try to mitigate the impact of sharp cuts in federal funding.
www.reuters.com
March 19, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Reposted by Manuela Raffatellu
With everything happening in the US right now, how safe are scientific conferences for foreign participants in the US? I think this is something we have to discuss as a scientific community. I am hesitating to register for US meetings due to the unpredictable situation. Others who feel the same?
March 19, 2025 at 8:03 AM