iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

1/2 We’re excited to announce our Industry Session keynote for the Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference! Rachael Nimmo (former director of the Cell Technology Group at OXB).

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

1/2 The Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference presents the Industry Session, featuring Lorenz Mayr (BioMedTech Consulting) Cristiana Pires (Asgard Therapeutics), and Sara Mangsbo (Uppsala University).

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

1/2 The Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference introduces Session 3: Delivery Technologies & Translation, joining Alexandra Teleki (Uppsala University), Jai Prakash (Radboud University Medical Centre), and Samir El Andaloussi (Karolinska Institutet).

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

10) Combining the delivery of PIB mRNAs with miRNA mimics showed cooperative effects and initiated non-viral cDC1 reprogramming.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

9) Importantly, miR-142 improved cancer cell reprogramming and enhanced anti-tumor immunity in vivo, leading to reduced tumor growth and increased survival rates.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

8) Functionally, miR-142-enhanced cells produced more IFN-λ1, a cytokine strongly associated with cDC1 biology and anti-tumor immunity. We further identified TGFBR1 as a miR-142-regulated barrier to cDC1 reprogramming.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

7) We then analyzed the contribution of canonical and non-canonical miRNA products to cDC1 reprogramming. While miR-124-3p recapitulated miR-124’s effects, the canonical miR-142 strands did not enhance cDC1 reprogramming. Instead, multiple 5′ isomiRs cooperated to achieve the phenotype.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

6) Meanwhile, miR-124 acts by increasing chromatin accessibility and creating a permissive environment for the reprogramming factors PU.1, IRF8 and BATF3 (PIB) to activate cDC1 programs.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

5) Mechanistically, miR-142 enhances reprogramming fidelity, repressing fibroblast identity and strengthening cDC1-specific programs. This is highlighted by increased expression of key cDC1 markers, including XCR1.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

4) Two clear hits emerged: miR-124, which increased reprogramming efficiency; and miR-142, which improved cDC1 lineage fidelity. And these effects were conserved across mouse and human systems.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

3) Despite what is known for other lineages, the role of miRNAs and isomiRs in immune cell conversions remains undefined. What did we do? We screened 15 candidate miRNAs for their role in type 1 conventional dendritic cell (cDC1) reprogramming.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

1) 📢 New study out in @CellReports: We uncover how microRNAs (miRNAs) and their isoforms (isomiRs) regulate immune cell specification and reprogramming. Read it here: www.cell.com/cell-reports... A thread 🧵 #microRNA #reprogramming #immunotherapy

130

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

1/2 We’re thrilled to announce our fourth keynote speaker for the Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference! Willem Mulder (Radboud University Medical Center/ Eindhoven University of Technology) is a leading researcher in immune-imaging and precision immunotherapy.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

1/2 We’re happy to announce our third keynote speaker for the Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference! Sine Reker Hadrup (Technical University of Denmark) develops technological platforms to study T cell reactivity in disease contexts.

102

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

1/2 The Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference introduces Session 2: Synthetic Biology & Gene Editing, joining William Nyberg (Karolinska Institutet), Axel Hyrenius-Wittsten (Lund University), and Mirco Friedrich (DKFZ German Cancer Research Center).

101

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

1/2 The Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference will have a dedicated @scilifelab.se session with Tina Catela Ivkovic (Center for Translational Genomics), Mikael Mattsson (Drug Discovery and Development), and Anahita Bakochi (BioMS).

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

1/2 The Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference introduces Session 1: Cell Engineering & Reprogramming. The Pereira lab will share the stage with Judit Svensson Arvelund and Özcan Met to discuss emerging approaches in immune cell engineering and cancer immunotherapy.

112

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

1/2 We’re thrilled to announce Adi Barzel (Tel Aviv University) as a keynote speaker for Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference! His work explores in vivo genome editing and strategies to engineer T and B cells for therapeutic applications.

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

1/2 We’re excited to announce our first keynote speaker for Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference! Sai Reddy (ETH Zurich) works on engineering the immunogenome & reprogramming immune cells for applications in biotechnology, vaccination & immunotherapy.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

1/2 Registration is OPEN for the Immunity by Design: In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering Conference!✨ Join us in Lund 22–23 Oct 2026 in a vibrant environment that brings together researchers from all career stages. #ImmuneEngineering #Immunotherapy #BiotechIndustry

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

1/4 Our new protocol paper is out in STAR Protocols!🎉✨ We outline how to identify transcription factor (TFs) networks for immune cell reprogramming. Read full paper here: www.cell.com/star-protoco...

121

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

1/2 If you didn’t have an exciting scientific event planned for the Fall, you do now! We are thrilled to announce the Immunity by Design: In VivoImmune Cell Engineering Conference, taking place in Lund 22-23 October 2026. #ImmuneEngineering #Immunotherapy #BiotechIndustry

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

1/1 We are recruiting an Assistant Professor in Immuno-oncology and Immune Cell Engineering to join the newly established Division of Immuno-Oncology at Lund University! @lund-university.bsky.social

111

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

1/3 Huge congrats to our team member Sandhya Malla @sa2430ma.bsky.social, who was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship by #Cancerfonden with her project “Decoding The Regulatory Grammar of Transcription Factor-Mediated Immune Reprogramming”!

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

1/2 Our PhD student Abigail Altman was one of three winners for Best Poster at the 2026 DGfI-Spring School on Immunology (@dgfi-org.bsky.social) held in the village of Ettal. She presented an outstanding poster: Programming Dendritic Cell Diversity with Direct Cell Reprogramming for Immunotherapy.

130

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Another standout moment was the keynote by Adrian Hayday on γδ T cells, truly insightful. He also highlighted Coimbra’s scientific heritage, including the Laboratório Chimico (1772) & its role in shifting from theoretical to experimental science, an early European commitment to lab research. /FP

000

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

1/2 New PhD students, new ideas, new science! Excited to see what we’ll build and discover together. Welcome to the lab!✨ Find out more: pereiralab.com

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Currently on the slopes of Keystone, Colorado attending the for the Symposium Myeloid Cells: Functional Heterogeneity with Therapeutic Promise. It has been a fantastic meeting so far; inspiring science, great discussions on the slopes, and exciting new perspectives on myeloid cells.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Excited to welcome our new postdocs to the lab! Looking forward to exciting science, collaborations, and discoveries together. Welcome aboard!✨ Read more about them on our website: pereiralab.com

010

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

We are happy to announce that Ervin Ascic was awarded the Best Cancer Thesis of 2025 at Lund University!

120

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

We’re excited to share that our recent paper, “A combinatorial transcription factor screening platform for immune cell reprogramming”, has been selected for the cover of the January issue of Cell Systems!✨

160

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

12) Take-home message: REPROcode is a versatile, single-cell-resolved platform to decode TF logic and engineer immune cells, from DC subsets to NK-like cells. REPROcode has broad future applications in cancer, autoimmunity, and tissue repair.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

11) Finally, we experimentally validated an NK reprogramming combination: TBX21, ETS1, NFIL3, and EOMES generated NK-like cells expressing CD56, NKG7, NCR1, GZMB, with functional capacity for degranulation and cytokine release.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

10) A decision tree trained on barcode counts and single-cell transcriptomes pinpointed key identity drivers: PU.1 at the root of reprogrammed cells, with KLF4 as a major early branch point, revealing a hierarchical TF map to guide immune cell reprogramming.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

9) Beyond cDC1: We uncovered TF modules for cDC2, pDC, macrophage, monocyte and NK trajectories. This highlighted the potential of REPROcode to generate immune heterogeneity.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

8) Programming immune diversity: Screening 48 TFs enriched in three DC subsets generated multiple immune phenotypes including myeloid and lymphoid, and extinguished fibroblast gene signatures. These patterns were reproduced across three experiments.

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

7) Beyond cell fate, we could also use REPROcode to identify factors that modify cDC1 cell states when co-expressed with PIB: • IκB-α/β (NFKBIA/B) → immature cDC1 • MXD1, ID2 → immunostimulatory/mature cDC1 • BCL6, IRF7 → CCR7⁺ migratory cDC1

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

6) The levels of identified co-factors also matter: GATA2 increased fidelity in a narrow window, as higher levels reduced reprogramming efficiency and XCR1 expression. GFI1B boosted efficiency at higher levels. This reveals distinct mechanisms of cooperation of GATA2 and GFI1B with PIB.

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

5) We showed that stoichiometry matters: high PU.1 + high BATF3 + intermediate IRF8 = best cDC1 induction from human fibroblasts or multiple cancer cells.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

4) Barcode recovery was robust and evenly distributed in reprogrammed cells. On the optimization side, we observed that more TFs, lower MOI, and higher cell recovery sharpened inference from large pools. Our meta-analysis shows this boosts accuracy for identifying instructive TFs.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

3) By applying multiplexed TF libraries (9, 22, and 42 factors), we reconstructed PIB-mediated (PU.1, IRF8, BATF3) cDC1 reprogramming, enabling resolution of minimal TF combinations and stoichiometries and revealing GATA2 and GFI1B as key enhancers of lineage fidelity.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

2) What's REPROcode? A barcoded, arrayed lentiviral library of 408 immune TFs (now available through Addgene - www.addgene.org/Filipe_Perei...) + scRNA-seq that links which reprogramming TFs a cell receives to the identity it acquires. With no extra barcode PCR steps!

111

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

1) Cell reprogramming holds great promise for next-generation immunotherapies, but combinatorial logic of TF network remains a challenge. We developed REPROcode to systematically interrogate TF combinations at single-cell resolution while resolving cell identity and state.

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

In a game of Mancala, each move strategically redistributes pieces mirroring how TF combinations direct immune cell fate. We present REPROcode to uncover these combinatorial rules providing a roadmap to reprogram cells into defined immune identities. Illustration: Lilith Lawrence

100

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

1/4 Great to share that our lab was awarded a research grant from the Mats Paulsson Foundation for Research, Innovation and Societal Development for the project “Advancing Reactive Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy with Cellular Reprogramming”.

130

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

1/2 Sharing exciting news! ✨ Our recently published paper “Anchored screening identifies transcription factor blueprints underlying dendritic cell diversity and subset-specific anti-tumor immunity” has been selected for the cover of the October issue of Immunity! @cp-immunity.bsky.social

2102

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

2/2 Yet, dendritic cells had another go with Abigail Altman, who won the Best Poster Award with "Transcription factor blueprints underlying dendritic cell diversity", now out in Immunity (www.cell.com/immunity/ful.... Congrats to both! It's great to have our contributions recognized!

210

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

1/2 Celebrating a double win!✨ Yesterday, at the Lund Stem Cell Center (LSCC) retreat, Ervin Ascic was awarded the Article of the Year Award with our Science paper "In vivo dendritic cell reprogramming for cancer immunotherapy" (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...)

120

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

We are proud to announce that Ervin Ascic successfully defended his PhD yesterday – with the special honor of Nobel Laureate James Allison as opponent! ✨ Ervin’s work makes a strong contribution, showing that in vivo dendritic cell reprogramming is paving the way toward the clinic.

110

Pereira Lab @cellreprolab.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

13/17 🧩 Our results propose that ETS–IRF pairwise interactions constitute the foundation upon which any DC identity may be built and help define the drivers of DC divergence, advancing our understanding of DC specification and heterogeneity.

100