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bushmanlab.bsky.social
Bushmanlab
@bushmanlab.bsky.social
Microbiology lab at UPenn, focusing on host microbe interactions in heath and disease.
Posts are in personal capacity. Reposts are not endorsements.
Congrats to Alex McFarland, Friederike Herbst and the team on their preprint on novel methods for tracking off-target base editing. A much needed tool!
August 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
We are very fortunate to have Nicola Segata presenting a seminar Friday August 29, 2025. Please join us!
August 27, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Thanks so much to Bruce Walker for the moving talk on HIV immunology and initiatives to mitigate AIDS in Africa. It is heartbreaking that federal cuts to PEPFAR over the next four years are projected to lead to 4 million additional deaths and 6 million additional infections (UNAIDS).
April 30, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Congrats to Marie Seleme, Aradhana Kasimsetty and the team on their report of effective methods for increasing expression from AAV vectors by blocking SUMOylation. Effective boosting by treatment with an inhibitor presently in use in humans! (PMID: 40263936)
April 23, 2025 at 5:37 PM
The recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2025 was a moving tribute to the importance of the HIV research field and efforts to eradicate HIV globally. Presentations are now up online. It was a great honor to deliver the Fields Lecture!
www.croiwebcasts.org/console/play...
April 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Congrats to Carter Merenstein on completion of his PhD thesis! A blizzard of impressive first author papers on the human microbiome in health and disease. Well done!! Examples: PMID: 37217829, PMID: 36195943, PMID: 34399607
April 7, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Fascinating paper from Lev Litichevskiy et al. on the microbiome in a very large cohort of diversity outbred mice. Exciting new insights into mechanisms linking the microbiome to diet, health and aging. PMID: 40164832
April 1, 2025 at 12:26 PM
PLoS Pathogens just published on Virolithopanspermia, the idea that viruses may move through space inside rocks. Maybe Earth is spewing viruses into space, and going the other way, maybe viral particles would be a good target to evaluate for signs of life in extraplanetary rocks! PMID: 40100845
March 19, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The projected cuts to PEPFAR and USAID will result in thousands of aviodable deaths world-wide. The US has led the world in helping the vulnerable under both Republican and Democratic leadership. Please write your elected leaders to support PEPFAR and USAID. 5CALLS.org makes it easy.
March 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Terminating PEPFAR and USAID will lead to the avoidable deaths of thousands of people from HIV/AIDS. Add your voice to the protests! The photo shows a moving public event yesterday in San Francisco.
March 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
After >34,000 patients treated, CART therapy has a terrific record. We now have two examples of vector integration in tumor suppressor genes associated with T cell malignancies. PMID: 39908432; PMID: 39779930. Nevertheless, the overall safety record remains impressive.
February 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Big congrats to Andrew Marques, Erick Gagne, and the team for their exciting PLoS Path paper on SARS-CoV-2 in deer in PA. At least 12 jumps from humans into deer!
PMID: 39854608
January 27, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Big congratulations to Julie Jadlowsky, Elizabeth Hexner, Joe Fraietta and the (huge) team on their recent Nature Medicine paper on safety of CART therapy. No detectable transformation due to vector integration in 783 patients.
PMID: 39833408
January 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Check out the updated booklet “Improving Your Scientific Writing”. The latest edition contains guidance on interacting with AI and use of respectful “person-first” language. The PDF is free!
www.med.upenn.edu/bushmanlab/a...
January 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Thanks so much to Eric Freed for a great talk today in the Penn Microbiology Seminar Series on HIV maturation and therapeutics. Beautiful studies using “forced evolution” of HIV to understand determinants of key pathways.
January 8, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Excited to share updates to Microbiocode, the code repository for the PennCHOP Microbiome program. Numerous well curated software packages to enable Microbiome research. Check it out!
www.med.upenn.edu/microbiocode/
January 6, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Congrats to Aradhana Kasimsetty and the team on their publication in Molecular Therapy—topoisomerase poisons boost AAV transduction, and alter integration site distributions. PMID: 39618424.
January 5, 2025 at 5:49 PM