Kai Mesa
@kaimesa.bsky.social
Macrophage and stem cell biologist. Interested in rebuilding tissues. Assistant Professor at @princetonmolbio.bsky.social. Opinions are my own. He/him.
https://mesa-lab.org/
https://mesa-lab.org/
Pinned
Kai Mesa
@kaimesa.bsky.social
· Dec 18
Mesa Laboratory
mesa-lab.org
Looking for motivated postdocs interested in doing pioneering research at the intersection of immunology and regenerative biology. We use intravital multiphoton imaging to observe and manipulate immune cell behavior at the single-cell level in live animals. Apply: www.princeton.edu/acad-positio....
When Macrophages Disappear, Skin Blood Vessels Age!
Check out our new study @nature.com that uncovers how the loss of capillary-associated macrophages with age blocks vessel repair and blood flow, revealing a new cellular trigger of tissue aging. #Aging #Immunology
👇👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Check out our new study @nature.com that uncovers how the loss of capillary-associated macrophages with age blocks vessel repair and blood flow, revealing a new cellular trigger of tissue aging. #Aging #Immunology
👇👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Niche-specific dermal macrophage loss promotes skin capillary ageing - Nature
Capillary-associated macrophages are selectively lost over time, contributing to impaired vascular repair and reduced tissue perfusion in older mice.
www.nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
When Macrophages Disappear, Skin Blood Vessels Age!
Check out our new study @nature.com that uncovers how the loss of capillary-associated macrophages with age blocks vessel repair and blood flow, revealing a new cellular trigger of tissue aging. #Aging #Immunology
👇👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Check out our new study @nature.com that uncovers how the loss of capillary-associated macrophages with age blocks vessel repair and blood flow, revealing a new cellular trigger of tissue aging. #Aging #Immunology
👇👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
A few days late, but I’m happy to post our recent publication on body-to-brain signaling regulation of memory in Nature Aging:
Online now!✨RESEARCH: Zhou, Novak et al show that the hypodermis regulates memory in C. elegans via insulin/IGF-1 and Notch signaling; activating this pathway rescues CREB-dependent memory in aged worms @ctmurphy1.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s43... rdcu.be/eo3Pd
Body-to-brain insulin and Notch signaling regulates memory through neuronal CREB activity - Nature Aging
Zhou, Novak and colleagues identify that the Caenorhabditis elegans hypodermis, a peripheral liver-like metabolic tissue, regulates memory via insulin/IGF-1 and Notch signaling, and show that activati...
www.nature.com
June 4, 2025 at 8:22 PM
A few days late, but I’m happy to post our recent publication on body-to-brain signaling regulation of memory in Nature Aging:
Reposted by Kai Mesa
The FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award aims to highlight the major contributions made by female scientists to #LifeSciences research. Winners of the award are inspiring role models for future generations of #WomenInScience
Nominate a scientist by 15 May: www.embo.org/the-embo-com... 🧪
Nominate a scientist by 15 May: www.embo.org/the-embo-com... 🧪
FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Awardees – Nominate for the Women in Science Award – EMBO
Nominees should be female scientists working in an EMBC Member State or FEBS member country, who have made outstanding contributions to life sciences research and significantly advanced our…
www.embo.org
April 30, 2025 at 9:52 AM
The FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award aims to highlight the major contributions made by female scientists to #LifeSciences research. Winners of the award are inspiring role models for future generations of #WomenInScience
Nominate a scientist by 15 May: www.embo.org/the-embo-com... 🧪
Nominate a scientist by 15 May: www.embo.org/the-embo-com... 🧪
Reposted by Kai Mesa
🔬 A new probe developed by Janelia researchers & collaborators that enables visualization of extracellular matrix structure in live tissues could also be useful in studying diseases linked to changes in the extracellular matrix and in diagnostic imaging ➡️ www.janelia.org/news/looking...
April 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
🔬 A new probe developed by Janelia researchers & collaborators that enables visualization of extracellular matrix structure in live tissues could also be useful in studying diseases linked to changes in the extracellular matrix and in diagnostic imaging ➡️ www.janelia.org/news/looking...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Immunologists and neuroscientists collaborate to show experience of cold temps leaves a lasting impression on the brain. In Nature paper today by labs of Princeton's Lydia Lynch @lydialynch.bsky.social and Trinity College Dubin's Tomás Ryan @tjryan.bsky.social. molbio.princeton.edu/news/2025/co...
Cold comforts: animals form memories about temperature
The experience of cold temperatures leaves a lasting impression on the brain, according to a new study published April 23, 2035 in the journal Nature. The study was conducted through a collaborative e...
molbio.princeton.edu
April 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Immunologists and neuroscientists collaborate to show experience of cold temps leaves a lasting impression on the brain. In Nature paper today by labs of Princeton's Lydia Lynch @lydialynch.bsky.social and Trinity College Dubin's Tomás Ryan @tjryan.bsky.social. molbio.princeton.edu/news/2025/co...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Interested in graduate training in molecular and cellular biology? Consider the MolBio Scholars program. A fully funded visit to Princeton to learn about grad admissions, meet MolBio faculty, postdocs, and grad students, and attend the departmental retreat. molbio.princeton.edu/graduate/mol...
April 23, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Interested in graduate training in molecular and cellular biology? Consider the MolBio Scholars program. A fully funded visit to Princeton to learn about grad admissions, meet MolBio faculty, postdocs, and grad students, and attend the departmental retreat. molbio.princeton.edu/graduate/mol...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Submicron-Sampling of Living Cells by Macrophages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.10.648051v1
April 16, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Submicron-Sampling of Living Cells by Macrophages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.10.648051v1
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Congrats🎉 to MolBio's Ai Ing Lim, one of three 2025 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award Recipients! “This grant means freedom… I can take more risks.” genestogenomes.org/this-grant-m...
April 4, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Congrats🎉 to MolBio's Ai Ing Lim, one of three 2025 Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award Recipients! “This grant means freedom… I can take more risks.” genestogenomes.org/this-grant-m...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...
Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist (Gift Article)
Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.
www.nytimes.com
April 4, 2025 at 7:32 AM
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...
Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Very cool:
A good news item about #HyperemesisGravidarum, and a perfect demonstration of why diversity and #WomenInSTEM are important
www.aaas.org/news/genetic...
www.aaas.org/news/genetic...
Geneticist Wins Women’s Health Prize for Pioneering Discoveries About Severe Morning Sickness | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Marlena Fejzo’s groundbreaking work implicates the hormone GDF15 as a key player in this understudied disorder.
www.aaas.org
April 5, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Very cool:
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Interested in aging?
Super excited about this upcoming Keystone meeting!! 🧪🌲🌲
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health -- Banff, Canada in 2026!!! ✨✨
Joint meeting with the Keystone Innate Immunity meeting!
#aging #immunity @keystonesymposia.bsky.social
www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...
Super excited about this upcoming Keystone meeting!! 🧪🌲🌲
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health -- Banff, Canada in 2026!!! ✨✨
Joint meeting with the Keystone Innate Immunity meeting!
#aging #immunity @keystonesymposia.bsky.social
www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health | Keystone Symposia
Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health, March 2026, in Banff, with field leaders!
www.keystonesymposia.org
March 22, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Interested in aging?
Super excited about this upcoming Keystone meeting!! 🧪🌲🌲
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health -- Banff, Canada in 2026!!! ✨✨
Joint meeting with the Keystone Innate Immunity meeting!
#aging #immunity @keystonesymposia.bsky.social
www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...
Super excited about this upcoming Keystone meeting!! 🧪🌲🌲
Aging: Immune Function and Organ Health -- Banff, Canada in 2026!!! ✨✨
Joint meeting with the Keystone Innate Immunity meeting!
#aging #immunity @keystonesymposia.bsky.social
www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
How many cells do you need to establish PCP? The magic number is 3! Beautiful work by Lena Basta in Danelle Devenport's lab. Happy to have contributed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Epithelial polarization by the planar cell polarity complex is exclusively non–cell autonomous
For cells to polarize collectively along a tissue plane, asymmetrically localized planar cell polarity (PCP) complexes must form intercellular contacts between neighboring cells. Yet, it is unknown wh...
www.science.org
March 22, 2025 at 1:47 AM
How many cells do you need to establish PCP? The magic number is 3! Beautiful work by Lena Basta in Danelle Devenport's lab. Happy to have contributed. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Excited to share our revised manuscript! We adapted new live imaging tools to track the same tissue resident macrophages for months in aging mice. We found a macrophage population that contributes to vascular health in young skin, but is lost as we age...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
January 4, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Excited to share our revised manuscript! We adapted new live imaging tools to track the same tissue resident macrophages for months in aging mice. We found a macrophage population that contributes to vascular health in young skin, but is lost as we age...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
From MBoC
@jraslab findings demonstrate that Langerhans cells exhibit context-specific changes in calcium activity and highlight the utility of skin as an accessible model for imaging calcium dynamics in tissue-resident macrophages.
www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...
@jraslab findings demonstrate that Langerhans cells exhibit context-specific changes in calcium activity and highlight the utility of skin as an accessible model for imaging calcium dynamics in tissue-resident macrophages.
www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...
December 23, 2024 at 5:18 PM
From MBoC
@jraslab findings demonstrate that Langerhans cells exhibit context-specific changes in calcium activity and highlight the utility of skin as an accessible model for imaging calcium dynamics in tissue-resident macrophages.
www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...
@jraslab findings demonstrate that Langerhans cells exhibit context-specific changes in calcium activity and highlight the utility of skin as an accessible model for imaging calcium dynamics in tissue-resident macrophages.
www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
This week in #Science #Immunology: Lukas Amann, Marco Prinz, & colleagues at @uni-freiburg.de report that #extrasinusoidal #macrophages in the #mouse #DuraMater represent a distinct subset of #CNS -associated macrophages whose role is shaped by #autoimmune #neuroinflammation! #neuroimmunology
Extrasinusoidal macrophages are a distinct subset of immunologically active dural macrophages
Extrasinusoidal dural macrophages are a distinct subset of immunologically active central nervous system–associated macrophages.
www.science.org
December 20, 2024 at 9:48 PM
This week in #Science #Immunology: Lukas Amann, Marco Prinz, & colleagues at @uni-freiburg.de report that #extrasinusoidal #macrophages in the #mouse #DuraMater represent a distinct subset of #CNS -associated macrophages whose role is shaped by #autoimmune #neuroinflammation! #neuroimmunology
Looking for motivated postdocs interested in doing pioneering research at the intersection of immunology and regenerative biology. We use intravital multiphoton imaging to observe and manipulate immune cell behavior at the single-cell level in live animals. Apply: www.princeton.edu/acad-positio....
Mesa Laboratory
mesa-lab.org
December 18, 2024 at 5:41 PM
Looking for motivated postdocs interested in doing pioneering research at the intersection of immunology and regenerative biology. We use intravital multiphoton imaging to observe and manipulate immune cell behavior at the single-cell level in live animals. Apply: www.princeton.edu/acad-positio....
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Excited to announce that our 2025 Advanced Research Training Course schedule is up and applications are open! 🎉🎉🎉
See you in Woods Hole! mbl.edu/courses
🧪🐙🦑🧠🐟
See you in Woods Hole! mbl.edu/courses
🧪🐙🦑🧠🐟
October 18, 2024 at 7:37 PM
Excited to announce that our 2025 Advanced Research Training Course schedule is up and applications are open! 🎉🎉🎉
See you in Woods Hole! mbl.edu/courses
🧪🐙🦑🧠🐟
See you in Woods Hole! mbl.edu/courses
🧪🐙🦑🧠🐟
Reposted by Kai Mesa
One of the alluring and theoretical strategies for extending healthspan and longevity is to rejuvenate the thymus gland, promote an intact immune system. Now there's a way to do that in aged mice.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
December 4, 2024 at 9:20 PM
One of the alluring and theoretical strategies for extending healthspan and longevity is to rejuvenate the thymus gland, promote an intact immune system. Now there's a way to do that in aged mice.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Kai Mesa
After 60 years, scientists finally know why ginger, calico, and tortoiseshell #cats look the way they do. scim.ag/3BpxRxY
Gene behind orange fur in cats found at last
After 60 years, scientists know why gingers, calicos, and tortoiseshells look the way they do
scim.ag
December 4, 2024 at 2:25 PM
After 60 years, scientists finally know why ginger, calico, and tortoiseshell #cats look the way they do. scim.ag/3BpxRxY
Reposted by Kai Mesa
Learn more about her lab and their work: www.hhmi.org/news/tapping...
Tapping into Bacterial Conversations | HHMI
Over the course of 30 years, HHMI Investigator Bonnie Bassler has helped usher in a new branch of science centered on quorum sensing, the process by which bacteria communicate with one another and orc...
www.hhmi.org
December 2, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Learn more about her lab and their work: www.hhmi.org/news/tapping...