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Andrew S. MacDonald

@profandrewmac.bsky.social
3K followers 690 following 140 posts

Prof at Edinburgh University. #Immunologist. #Inflammation, #infection, #helminths, #allergy, #metabolism and the #microbiome. scholar.google.com/citations?user=g… Not interested in pitchfork politics of any flavour…

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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Groundbreaking study from Alex Loukas and Paul Brindley reporting the generation and propagation of the first heritable transgenic #schistosome line! 🧪 🪱 #IDSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Heritable transgenic schistosomes as a living platform for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody secretion - Nature Communications
A heritable CRISPR knock-in in Schistosoma mansonigenerated a transgenic line that secreted a functional anti–SARS-CoV-2 antibody into mouse circulation. Virus neutralization by infected mouse sera de...
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Lizzie Mann @lizziemannlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Delighted to share our paper out today in @natimmunol.nature.com on the overlooked roles of monocytes in the uterus. It has been quite a journey! @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The dual roles of uterine monocytes in regulation of tissue homeostasis throughout reproductive cycles in health and disease - Nature Immunology
Mann and colleagues reveal key roles for monocytes in replenishing the subsets of uterine macrophages involved in tissue remodeling and inflammation. These processes maintain tissue homeostasis in hea...
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Congratulations Dr Shorthouse! Very proud of Olivia defending her #PhD thesis today - no corrections! And huge thanks to examiners @immunobladder.bsky.social and @kathelse.bsky.social too. @lizziemannlab.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social
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David Tomaz, PhD @dctomaz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🧬 Tissue repair is essential—but what happens when it doesn’t switch off? An interesting perspective on how persistent inflammation and repair programmes contribute to fibrosis, and where we might intervene. #Immunology #Fibrosis
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Delighted to be a small part of this beautiful new study from @mariakoufaki.bsky.social and @santiagozelenay.bsky.social, identifying a #DendriticCell phenotype and activation state that is critical for anti- #tumour #immunity 🧪 #ImmunSky - congratulations Maria and Santiago!
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Congratulations Dr Harrop! Very proud of Ben defending his #PhD thesis today - the future is bright as he starts his postdoc in London! Good luck Ben 😊. And huge thanks to examiners @joyedwardshicks.bsky.social and Jo Konkel too. @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social
Joy Edwards-Hicks, Jo Konkel and a very Happy newly fledged Dr Ben Harrop, post PhD viva.  All holding glasses of celebratory fizz (of questionable quality).
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
A real pleasure to play a small part in this new study from the Hoffmann lab which uses a genetically humanized mouse that better models human #metabolism to accelerate drug discovery for #schistosomiasis. Very cool! 🪱 🧪 #helminth www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Use of a cytochrome P450 humanized mouse model to refine schistosomiasis drug discovery | PNAS
Control of schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by infection with Schistosoma spp., remains reliant on a single chemotherapy, prazi...
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Thanks to @minsterbantam.bsky.social for visiting and giving a great seminar this week about #immunity and #hematopoesis during #helminth infection #schistosomiasis 🪱 🧪
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Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
#TissueTregs have now been found in essentially all tissues, and have broadly conserved properties of enhancing repair and rejuvenation as well as controlling local inflammation. While the impact on tissues differ, molecular mediators are largely shared across tissues.
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British Society for Parasitology @bspparasitology.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
-> 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 and 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 for BSP 2026 in Glasgow are open! The deadline for abstracts for oral presentations is 17 February while the deadline for poster abstracts is 28 February. lnkd.in/eJqXD3DY
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Swiss TPH @swisstph.ch · 30/01/2024
On World NTD Day, we are highlighting innovative approaches to fighting NTDs. A recent paper from Swiss TPH shows the potential repurposing of tuberculosis drug candidates to fight Buruli ulcer, a chronic skin disease caused by M. ulcerans. 👉Read more: bit.ly/47WdrXA
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Heather Ferguson @drheatherferg.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Two decades of progress against neglected tropical diseases are now at risk – from funding cuts, climate change, and conflict. This World NTD Day, we must protect progress, unlock financing, and accelerate action. #WorldNTDDay #BeatNTD
Image of a boy taking a pill, with the banner reading "Two decades of progress against NTDs is at risk"
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Vienna Airway Lab @viennaairwaylab.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
🤩 Thrilled our research is a JACI Editor's Choice! 🎉 We identified distinct protein fingerprints (GDNF/CLC) for noninvasive diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2025.08.025)🔬 #CRS #PrecisionMedicine #Proteomics #Immunology 🔗 ino.to/wu9XyBl
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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
hard times in UK for research sector as MRC have announced a funding pause in light of the science secretary announcing an overhaul of how the agency would divide its budget which will dramatically change research....🧪🧵
researchprofessionalnews.com
UKRI pauses several funding calls amid priorities shake-up - Research Professional News
“Period of transition” at funding agency sees some Medical Research Council funding opportunities on hiatus
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Lovely to catch up with some of the Manchester crew this afternoon, including new addition Maya 👶, for a Christmas get together 😊🎄🎅🏻 @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social
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Peter Cook @drpetercook.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Its my great pleasure to say the latest paper from our group is now out: www.mucosalimmunology.org/article/S193... Check it out! We found that immune cell activation in the sputum identifies severe asthma patients. Massive thanks to the patients for agreeing to give sputum and blood samples.
mucosalimmunology.org
Activation status of airway immune cells is a defining feature of severe asthma, regardless of fungal sensitisation
Global estimates of asthma prevalence are rising, with an estimated 262 million affected individuals in 2019.1 Purported reasons for this rapid rise include urbanisation of lower- and middle-income co...
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Birds but they get spookier each time. 🎃👻 Enter if you dare...🚪
A black background decorated with gold illustrations of branches, stars, swords, ravens, and tiny ghost shapes. In the centre, bold text reads: “BIRDS BUT THEY GET SPOOKIER EACH TIME.” Two ravens perch on bare branches at the bottom, with candles glowing beside them.
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James McInerney @jomcinerney.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Here in the uk, the government has found that £1 of spending on R&D results in £8 of benefit: www.gov.uk/government/p...
gov.uk
The value of public R&D
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Journal of Experimental Medicine @jem.org · 28/10/2025
Insights from Andrea Cooper: Mtb drives expression of type I IFN–mediated #neutrophil accumulation, which limits interaction btwn CD4 T cells & macrophages. Failure to limit type I IFN very early in the process allows rapid progression of disease rupress.org/jem/article/... #Tuberculosis
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Andres Hidalgo @drusqui.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Thank you to our editor, Kirsty Minton, and the staff at NRI for the opportunity to share our thoughts on this emerging topic.
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Vivien Shek @vshek.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Delighted to share this story from my PhD! 🎉 🪱
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Emma Houlder @emmahoulder.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
In schistosome 🪱-endemic areas, people are repeatedly reinfected — but we still don’t fully understand how T cell responses develop in these cycles. In my first ever last-author paper (😱) we investigate this, comparing endemic and repeat controlled human schistosome infection: rdcu.be/exH58
rdcu.be
T cell responses in repeated controlled human schistosome infection compared to natural exposure
Nature Communications - In schistosomiasis-endemic regions, the cyclical nature of infection and treatment complicates understanding of host immune responses. Repeated controlled human Schistosoma...
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David E Sanin @davidesanin.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
🚨 Want to find interesting cells in single-cell RNAseq data independently of clusters? Try our method to identify transcriptional shifts using OAR scores! Pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025... R tool and tutorials: sanin-lab.github.io/OARscRNA/ @biorxiv-bioinfo.bsky.social 1/n
doi.org
Missing data in single-cell transcriptomes reveals transcriptional shifts
Profiling thousands of single cell transcriptomes is routine, yet cell prioritization based on response to biological perturbations is challenging and confounded by clustering, normalization and dimen...
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Tara Sutherland @drtesutherland.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Aberdeen is hiring - Neuroimmunology Lectureship! Really exciting opportunity to join our supportive, collaborative and multidisciplinary Institute to carry out cutting edge translation research. Not to mention the scenery in the North East of Scotland is amazing www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/vacanci...
abdn.ac.uk
Lecturer in Neuroimmunology, Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition (MED243A) | The University of Aberdeen
Browse and apply for current job openings at the University of Aberdeen across various schools, departments and roles, including admin and academic.
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Denise Fitzgerald @deefitzgerald.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Fantastic thread on budgeting from @labliston.bsky.social . Great advice for new (and not so new!) PIs. I would add awareness of how psychology impacts spending based on moving from low budget to high budget setting and vice versa....
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Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
For our #flowcytometry peeps, would you like to have a single fix/perm protocol that is optimised for everything? One that preserves fluorophores while allowing simultaneous TF and cytokine staining? How about 100-fold cheaper? You got it: currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
currentprotocols.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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emds2025.bsky.social @emds2025.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
A massive thanks to all the #EMDS2025 speakers, delegates, sponsors & @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social staff for making @emds2025.bsky.social such a success. We had a great time, we hope you did too and your travel home was smooth. Here's to #EMDS2026 in Amsterdam @immunometlab.bsky.social
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
The end of #EMDS2025 - so much amazing science, and great to meet up in person with so many friends and colleagues (and make some new ones!). Very proud of @vshek.bsky.social and @nwasowska.bsky.social winning poster prizes for the team - well done both!
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
A fantastic talk from David Russell to end #EMDS2025 - about #macrophage subset responses to #Mycobaterium tuberculosis, and their re-programming to improve drug efficacy in vitro and in vivo
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Elaine Emmerson @doctoremmerson.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
A cracking meal complete with piper & Ceilidh to round off the second day of #EMDS2025 in #Edinburgh
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Lucy Jackson-Jones @lucyhjackson-j.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Heading home after a fabulous few days in Edinburgh @emds2025.bsky.social Excellent venue, amazing programme, thanks @bainlab.bsky.social @profandrewmac.bsky.social and Samanta Mariani #EMDS2025 #Macrophage #DCs ♥️
McEwan Hall, Edinburgh University
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Beautiful data from Franca Ronchese, all the way from @malaghan.bsky.social in New Zealand, about generation and function of subsets of skin #DendriticCells in #allergic responses #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Another great talk from @immunobladder.bsky.social about #macrophage subsets in the #bladder, including in memory response to bacterial infection and key differences in males vs females #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Final day of #EMDS2025 opens with a fantastic talk from Will Wood - beautiful imaging of #macrophage migration following wounding, using the tractability of #Drosophila in ingenious ways to identify key chemoattractants in this process
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martinguilliams.bsky.social @martinguilliams.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
When the PhD student gives a better talk than his promotors! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Spectacular talk from @StijnVerwaerde #EMDS2025 🤩🤩. Very cool collaboration with @bart_lambrecht team. Identification of regulatory circuits switching homeostatic regulons to type 2 inflammatory regulons in AMs
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Fantastic talk and new data from @lukeanthonyoneill.bsky.social about #mitochondrial control of #inflammation by #itaconate and derivatives in multiple settings #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Really interesting talk from @chrysothemisbrown.bsky.social about ontogeny, transcriptional regulation and function of subsets of #ThetisCells, including their role in #Treg induction and oral #tolerance #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Beautiful and energetic talk from @drpetercook.bsky.social about #DendriticCell uptake of and activation by #fungal spores in #allergic airway #inflammation, and metabolic requirements for this #EMDS2025
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Barbara Schraml @barbaraschraml.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Thank you. Very happy to discuss pur work at this amazing meeting! Great times: #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Final talk pre-lunch from @mariolaks.bsky.social defining some of the key #DendriticCell subsets involved in shaping joint #inflammation vs remission, in both human and mouse #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Interesting short talk from Anita Qualls about RORgt+ #APCs in oral tolerance and #Treg induction #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Another lovely talk, this time from David Munro, about the context dependent roles for #HIF1a in #microglia, including in stroke #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
First talk so far about #immunometabolism at #EMDS2025 - really interesting murine and human data about mitochondrial (dys)function in #macrophages as a regulator of #inflammation, from @immunometlab.bsky.social
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Lovely talk from Samanta Mariani about embryonic #macrophages in hematopoiesis, in health and in malignancy #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Really interesting talk by Barbara Schraml, showing how dietary cues at weaning can activate splenic #cDC1 to induce CTL-like effector CD8+ T cells #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Day 2 of #EMDS2025 starts with a beautiful talk about lung tissue resident #alveolar #macrophage identity and the influence of #IL-33 on this, by Stijn Verwaerde from BART Lambrecht’s lab.
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Elaine Emmerson @doctoremmerson.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
#EMDS2025 attendees - if anyone is looking for a postdoc position and likes what they see of #Edinburgh, please come and speak to me or @lizihegarty.bsky.social (poster 71) or @erinwatson.bsky.social (poster 35).
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
A fascinating education in #LangerhansCell biology and function from Clare Bennett, as well as a closing advert for the 18th International #DendriticCell symposium in San Diego next year #EMDS2025 #DC2026
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Lots of exciting new data from @esegura-lab.bsky.social revealing an important role for Aryl Hydrocarbon receptor #AhR in promotion of wound healing my #macrophages #EMDS2025
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Andrew S. MacDonald @profandrewmac.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Fascinating (and disturbing!) presentation about the impact of ingested microplastics on liver macrophages by @mariafviola.bsky.social #EMDS2025
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