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Neuroimmunology of
Host-Microbe Interaction

Research

Research

We use Drosophila to study the intricate interactions between microbes, the brain, and the immune system.

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  1. How does the brain sense the microbes?

  2. How does the brain inform the immune system about the infection?

  3. How is glia involved in it?

People

People
Features
News
News

Lab News

12/17/2025: Last lab meeting of 2025, followed by lunch @ Istanbul. Happy holidays, everyone!

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11/05/2025: Nathan passed his qualifying exam! Good job and congratulations!!!

10/29/2025: Thank you all for the birthday surprise ❤️

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08/25/2025: Hannah starts her rotation!!! Welcome, Meryem and Tala, our FIRST two undergrads!

08/20/2025: Afiyfah has officially joined the lab!!!

05/20/2025: FIRST lab scientific outing @ GCC neuroinflammation workshop. Inspiring talks and discussion!

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04/25/2025: An interplay between BAT (microbes), FLY (brain), and SPIDER (immunity) 😂.

A genius artwork by Nathan.

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publications

Selected Publications

  1. Xu, W., Rustenhoven, J., Nelson, C. A., Dykstra, T., Ferreiro, A., Papadopoulos, Z., Burnham, C.D., Dantas, G., Fremont, D. H., Kipnis, J. (2023). A novel immune modulator IM33 mediates a glia-gut-neuronal axis that controls lifespan. Neuron 111(20): 3244-3254.e3248. Featured by Science Signaling, 16(809): eadl5530.

  2. Xu, W., Bao, P., Jiang, X., Wang, H., Qin, M., Wang, R., Wang, T., Yang, Y., Lorenzini, I., Liao, L., Sattler, R., Xu, J. (2019). Reactivation of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay protects against C9orf72 dipeptide-repeat neurotoxicity. Brain 142, 1349-1364.

  3. Xu, W., and Xu, J. (2018). C9orf72 Dipeptide Repeats Cause Selective Neurodegeneration and Cell-Autonomous Excitotoxicity in Drosophila Glutamatergic Neurons. J Neurosci 38, 7741-7752.

Contact

CONTACT

Address: SR2 building Rm 221D, 3455 Cullen Blvd, Houston, TX 77004

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