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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

Lab News

08/14/2026: Two senior students, Amaobi and Ariadna, will conduct their capstone research in our lab. Welcome!

Features
News
News

07/29/2026: Two AMAZING high school students, Isabella and Daniel, delivered an AMAZING presentation on their summer research internship, with the help of two AMAZING mentors, Afiyfah and Nathan. This was followed by a fun bowling party. Best of luck with your college applications!

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05/14/2026: Chien is now officially a PhD candidate. Congratulations, Chien!!!

03/14/2026: Afiyfah presented her work at the 17th BSGS research symposium.

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01/29/2026: Lab presentation at UH MIND "Dementia Unlocked Symposium". Good job, Matt!

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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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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.

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