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Reposted by Prof. Shane Crotty

Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social Durability and diversity of human upper airway T cell memory @profshanecrotty.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @lji.org

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Long-lived antigen-specific T cell memory therefore resides directly in human upper-airway barrier tissues—a finding with implications for next-generation vaccines and T cell-based therapeutics. Congratulations to Sydney Ramirez, Farhoud Faraji, and the whole @lji.org team!

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

These virus-specific cells predominantly had tissue-resident memory (TRM) phenotypes. During reported/suspected SARS-CoV-2 infections, SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell frequencies increased.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We found SARS-CoV-2- and influenza A-specific memory CD8 & CD4 T cells in >95% of individuals—and remarkably, upper-airway T cell memory persisted for 18+ months with no clear evidence of decline.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

How durable is T cell memory in the human upper airway? Our new preprint directly tracks virus-specific CD8 & CD4 T cells in human nasal tissues for >18 months—using nearly 900 monthly nasal samples. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

The broadly neutralizing antibody B cell lineage trees after vaccination that Pat was able to reconstruct are amazing.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Pat put an exceptional amount of work into this project over the past several years. The B cell immunology in the paper is a real tour de force.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I’m deeply grateful to Bill Schief, lead Schief lab author Jon Steichen, and Crotty lab lead author Patrick Madden. As well as all of our amazing collaborators, trainees, staff scientists, technicians, and everyone who contributed over the past 14 years. @patmadden.bsky.social @lji.org

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

One of the most rewarding aspects of this project is that solving a difficult vaccine problem also taught us fundamental lessons about adaptive immunity. I am confident many of the immunological findings will have implications well beyond HIV vaccine development.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The structural biology was particularly satisfying. The vaccine-induced antibodies converged on the molecular interactions that had been predicted during immunogen design, providing strong support for the germline-targeting strategy.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

... and differentiate robustly into plasma cells producing serum bnAbs

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Beyond HIV, this is also a fundamental immunology study. We show that exceptionally rare naïve B cells can: • be successfully primed • enter germinal centers • remain competitive through repeated rounds of affinity maturation • become memory B cells • be repeatedly recalled by sequential immunogens

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

In this study, we demonstrate the first complete germline-targeting vaccination regimen in an outbred, nontransgenic animal model that generates both: • bnAb-class memory B cells • serum broadly neutralizing antibodies for a known human bnAb specificity, in this case BG18.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against HIV exist in humans, but inducing them by vaccination has been one of the central challenges in HIV vaccine development. For many years, numerous immunological hurdles were thought to make this goal extraordinarily difficult—and perhaps unattainable.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Excited to share our new Nature paper published today: Vaccination elicits HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies in primates www.nature.com/articles/s41... A project 14 years in the making with an outstanding team at @lji.bsky.social, @scrippsresearch.bsky.social and many collaborating institutions

nature.com

Vaccination elicits HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies in primates - Nature

Nature - Vaccination elicits HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies in primates

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Thank Ian. I keep trying to build upon the clever layers visualizations you started during the pandemic! I find it a powerful visual metaphor.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Thanks Eric! I worked to make this review of human immune memory to vaccines comprehensive and accessible. And I made an accompanying video lecture for those desiring a different format: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DeZ...

youtube.com

Review: Immunological memory to vaccines

YouTube video by Cell Press

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

My new comprehensive review of Immune Memory to Vaccines is out! It has an emphasis on human vaccines. It is also accompanied by a full video lecture. Enjoy! @lji.org @cp-immunity.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

authors.elsevier.com

ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Together, this work shows that durable and robust GC-Tfh responses are key architects of high-quality antibody responses. They lead B cells toward their best performance. Understanding how to sustain and shape these networks offers a path toward more effective and enduring vaccines.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

We even detected same Tfh clones participating in different lymph nodes, suggesting a connected GC network.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Strong and functional GC-Tfh responses were associated with better antibodies, both in magnitude and quality. This suggests that effective vaccines can enhance Tfh responses that recruit and guide a broader B cell repertoire, ultimately driving antibody maturation toward neutralizing capability.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

We found that vaccine-specific Tfh cells expand early and remain active for months, showing no signs of exhaustion. Tracking Tfh clones across weeks showed not only that the same clones can persist, but also how these different Tfh subsets are interconnected.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

We identified distinct subsets of GC-Tfh cells, including populations rich in IL-21 and IL-4, and with signatures of recent TCR engagement. We also spotted proliferating Tfh, Tfr, and IL10⁺ Tfh cells among others.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

In our latest study in @cp-immunity.bsky.social, we followed dynamics of vaccine-specific Tfh cells for 60+ weeks after immunization. authors.elsevier.com/a/1m3mV3qNrU... We captured >500,000 CD4 T cells including >36,000 vaccine-specific Tfh by scRNAseq, giving an unprecedented longitudinal detail.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

LJI has a strong research focus in human health and human diseases. We are interested in applicants from any area of immunology and we particularly welcome applicants with research emphasis on autoimmunity, engineering immunity, and sex-based immunological differences.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Applicants should electronically submit a single attachment that includes (1) a cover letter, (2) curriculum vitae, (3) a research statement with research accomplishments and proposed research program (<3 pages), and (4) 3 reference contacts. jobs.dayforcehcm.com/en-US/lji/CA...

jobs.dayforcehcm.com

Job Details | Dayforce Jobs

Find your next adventure

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Faculty candidates must hold a PhD, MD, or equivalent degree and must have an outstanding record of scientific ability demonstrated by a strong publication record.

jobs.dayforcehcm.com

Job Details | Dayforce Jobs

Find your next adventure

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

LJI is recruiting! The La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI, San Diego, California) invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position.

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Reposted by Prof. Shane Crotty

Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Simultaneous immunization with three germline-targeting immunogens primes multiple bnAb lineages in NHPs, advancing multiepitope HIV vaccine strategies @sciimmunology.bsky.social @profshanecrotty.bsky.social SchiefLab @lji.org @scripps.edu www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

With the Schief lab we’ve shown that individual germline targeting immunogens can effectively prime bnAb-class responses in primates. The bnAb studies this work was based on: * www.science.org/doi/full/10...., * www.nature.com/articles/s41..., * www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Continuity of NIH funding has been central to the exceptional success of these projects.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

We are proud that our consortium’s findings over the past 10+ years have substantially advanced HIV vaccine development, and have made many findings—technological, immunological, and in vaccinology—that have accelerated research in many areas of immunology and beyond.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

This work was made possible by continuous funding from the NIH over the past 10+ years. These HIV vaccine development studies take extensive coordination between labs.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

This project was led by Harry Sutton in the lab in collaboration Schief lab @scripps.edu A back-to-back paper by the fantastic Batista lab shows similar outcomes in mouse models, with the added advantage of showing success with mRNA vaccines. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

No study had previously reported even a single detectable event of two bnAb lineages targeting distinct epitopes in vaccinated humans or outbred animals. These findings demonstrate that multi-target GT vaccination is feasible, an important step toward an effective and practical HIV vaccine.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

We isolated a total of 13 BG18-class (V3/glycan), 84 PCT64-class (Apex), and 134 10E8-class (MPER) unique clonal lineages from primates that received a triple combination GT immunization regimen. To our knowledge, this is the first report of its kind.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

An effective HIV vaccine will likely need to elicit multiple bnAb classes simultaneously. In this study, we systematically tested whether different combinations of three HIV GT immunogens could prime bnAb-class responses. Turns out, the immune system can handle multitasking just fine.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

4/ The photo is one of my favorites of David. In his lab, circa 1971, the era of the reverse transcriptase discoveries. For those interested in a deeper dive: a.co/d/cOKmZWx

a.co

Amazon.com

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

3/ Many of his trainees have gone on to be leaders in their fields for decades, elected to the National Academies, and been heads of universities.

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

2/ There were those who said he should have easily won two Nobel Prizes. He had a tumultuous tenure as President of Rockefeller University, followed by a highly success tenure as President of Caltech. Perhaps his most enduring legacy is the incredible cadre of scientists who trained in his lab

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

1/ David Baltimore passed away this weekend. He was one of the greatest biologists of the past 100 years. He made extraordinary contributions to immunology, cancer, molecular biology, virology, HIV, biochemistry, genetics, and genetic engineering. He won the Nobel prize in Medicine at age 37.

David Baltimore in his lab, circa 1971, the era of the reverse transcriptase discoveries

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Reposted by Prof. Shane Crotty

Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

A germline-targeting trimer consistently induced rare bnAb-like precursors specific for the HIV Env Apex in rhesus macaques @sciimmunology.bsky.social @profshanecrotty.bsky.social War ad & Schief www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Prof. Shane Crotty @profshanecrotty.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

“The field has made enormous progress in the last two or three years, and this is a reward for the investments that the federal government has made in these programs,” said Dennis Burton, @scripps.edu . “Now is not the time to end these efforts,” warned Burton.

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