Tom Scriba
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tomscriba.bsky.social
Tom Scriba
@tomscriba.bsky.social
Professor in Immunology at University of Cape Town, Deputy Director at South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative.
Views are my own.
Reposted by Tom Scriba
The @ragoninstitute.bsky.social is launching a new faculty search for a computational immunologist! Applications are open now and reviewed on a rolling basis. Please share broadly with your networks! #immunosky

www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Computational Immunologist - Boston, Massachusetts (US) job with Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, & Harvard | 12849577
The Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard in Cambridge MA, together with the Departmen
www.nature.com
December 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
I think we all need some good news for global health and infectious diseases!
Five real global health wins in 2025
1.HPV vaccination scaled faster than expected;
2. measles/rubella eliminated in several countries;
3. long-acting HIV PrEP (lenacapavir) approved;
4. progress on TB vaccines/diagnostics;
5. A promising new antimalarial.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Five big global health wins in 2025 that will save millions of lives
From HIV to TB, scientists and doctors made breakthroughs in treatment and prevention of some of the world’s deadliest diseases
www.theguardian.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Remarkably, this phosphate-limitation response does not kill the bacterium, suggesting it is reversible and functionally equivalent. Electron microscopy by Max Gutierrez @maxgg.bsky.social and colleagues shows a structured and ~10% thicker cell envelope associated with this remodeling.
December 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
These findings highlight that decades of research have focused on an artificial lipid profile, shaped by the high phosphate content of Middlebrook media and likely modestly relevant for infection. The data also reveals a high degree of plasticity in the composition of Mtb cell envelope.
December 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
We’re excited to share our latest study that reshapes our understanding of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) lipid composition, with major implications for drug discovery, immunity, and vaccine development.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A thread.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis overcomes phosphate starvation by extensively remodelling its lipidome with phosphorus-free lipids - Nature Communications
Here, the authors show that Mycobacterium tuberculosis manipulates lipid metabolism to overcome host restriction, by remodelling its lipidome and utilising host lipids as an alternative phosphate sour...
www.nature.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Two pieces of fun news:

1. We've launched a new website for our lab: www.brysonlab.org

2. With some new funding, we are recruiting for new postdocs and graduate students. The projects build upon our previous studies of antigen presentation and phagosome biology and go into new exciting dimensions!
The Bryson Lab | Vaccine Development & Research at MIT
Developing effective accessible vaccines to end tuberculosis worldwide. Combining immunoengineering, molecular microbiology & systems biology at MIT.
www.brysonlab.org
December 18, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
The pipeline of scientists is cracked at every level now: recent grads can't get jobs/research experience because we're all conservative about hiring in this climate, fewer grad school spots, killing many fellowship pipelines, and now the early career investigators are disproportionately impacted.
December 19, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Such a lovely way of explaining why global solidarity matters!
global health cuts aren’t numbers on a page — they’re missed hiv treatments, clinics under strain, and lives pushed closer to the edge.

in Toronto, @zackieachmat.bsky.social named the moment clearly: solidarity has to cross borders. ✊🏽🌍
December 9, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Check out our new paper with @nelson-lab.bsky.social. We used scRNAseq to profile the function of Mtb peptide-specific T cells from NHP and human lung granulomas. Beyond IFNγ, Mtb-specific T cells make a bunch of unexpected stuff, and human and NHP cell are really similar.
December 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Hey friends. I’m looking for a postdoc interested in studying host-pathogen interactions and immunology of tuberculosis. Send me some good people! We have a great group here! Email me joanne@pitt.edu. Thanks!
December 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Thanks @robcaliff.bsky.social and 11 other prior FDA Commissioners for weighing in on vaccines, evidence, appropriate policy in today's @nejm.org www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
www.statnews.com/2025/12/03/f...
December 4, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
@peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social

Vaccines do not cause Autism

11.20.25 940 pm ET PART 2
November 21, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
@peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social

Vaccines do not cause Autism

11.20.25 940 pm ET PART 1
November 21, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Doctor Simon Mendelsohn will present an oral abstract titled: TBS08-25 Universal screening for asymptomatic TB among adults with household exposure to a patient with pulmonary TB" at the Union World Conference on Lung Health. Time 9H28 in the Auditorium. conf2025.theunion.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
👇👇Last days to submit your abstract to be considered for a short talk! Deadline 24 November!https://www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/conference-listing/meeting/travel/c42026
Tuberculosis: Understanding the Disease Across Scales | Keystone Symposia
Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Tuberculosis: Understanding the Disease Across Scales, March 2026, in Cape Town, with field leaders!
www.keystonesymposia.org
November 19, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Brilliant, inspiring opening to the @theunion.org conference on TB by @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social today!
November 18, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Epstein-Barr virus may drive autoimmunity in lupus by infecting and reprogramming memory B cells, according to a new #ScienceTranslationalMedicine analysis of patient-derived blood samples. https://scim.ag/49orb21
Epstein-Barr virus reprograms autoreactive B cells as antigen-presenting cells in systemic lupus erythematosus
Epstein-Barr virus reprograms autoreactive B cells as antigen-presenting cells to promote pathogenic antinuclear T and B cell responses in lupus.
scim.ag
November 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Cape Town’s fynbos plant kingdom showing off this morning
November 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
For children and teens, heart and blood vessel complications of Covid overshadow the very rare and short-term risk of vaccinations, a new report from nearly 14 million kids
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
November 5, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
Humanity has missed the 1.5 C climate target

Our politicians, oligarchs and fossil fuel lobbyists are still denying, debating and both-siding
November 4, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Tom Scriba
South Africa's become the first African country to approve the groundbreaking twice-a-year anti-HIV jab, lenacapavir (LEN). Our @miamalan.bsky.social spoke to CapeTalk to explain why the country what's next.

Click the link to listen to the full interview: omny.fm/shows/the-jo...
November 1, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Can we advance our understanding of asymptomatic TB from inflammatory biomarkers? Our latest preprint.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Inflammatory Biomarkers of Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Tuberculosis
A large proportion of individuals with tuberculosis (TB) are asymptomatic. The biological and inflammatory underpinnings of asymptomatic TB are unknown and may differ from symptomatic TB. We character...
www.biorxiv.org
October 30, 2025 at 11:47 AM