Maslowski MMIMiC Lab
@mmimic.bsky.social
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We love bugs! Microbial and Metabolic Immune Modulation in Cancer Lab @cruk-si.bsky.social. We’re studying bacterial cancer therapies and metabolic influences on anti-tumour immunity. Lab led by Kendle Maslowski.
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mmimic.bsky.social
Check it out!!! Our work delineating why T cells aren't needed for Salmonella colorectal cancer therapy, and how to get them on board is out 😅🧪🦠. @cruk-si.bsky.social Collab with @bendinglab.bsky.social @sarahdimeloe.bsky.social #Immunosky #Microsky #metabolism www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
www.embopress.org
mmimic.bsky.social
Great news! Abstract deadline is extended till next Friday, 3rd October!
bsi-tumourimm.bsky.social
Interested in microbial therapy for cancer?

@mmimic.bsky.social and @cruk-si.bsky.social have got you covered with two days of science in Glasgow!

Abstract deadline is on Friday 🚨

📅23-24 October 2025

Register here 👉 tinyurl.com/33cumwj2
cruk-si.bsky.social
🔬Join us for our upcoming Cancer Immunology Workshop: 'Lessons from the Microbes Within Us; Developing Next Generation Immunotherapeutics'

📅23-24 October 2025
📍CRUK Scotland Institute, Glasgow

Abstract deadline: 26 September
Register by: 10 October

crukscotlandinstitute.ac.uk/immuno_works...
mmimic.bsky.social
Interested in host-microbe interactions and how we can apply findings to develop immunotherapies? The come join us for an exciting workshop in October @cruk-si.bsky.social
www.crukscotlandinstitute.ac.uk/events/125-s...
Reposted by Maslowski MMIMiC Lab
bugsinyourguts.bsky.social
If you are UK-based and working on any aspect of microbiomes (human, plant, insect, soil, animal, ...), please do sign up to Microbiome-Net for details of networking, funding and training opportunities.

forms.office.com/pages/respon...
Reposted by Maslowski MMIMiC Lab
johnhuww.bsky.social
“High visa fees are putting off some of the world’s most talented scientists from coming to the UK,” said Foulkes, with “We need to be able to compete for the world’s best scientists.” research institutes forced to divert funds from labs to pay fees.”
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Cancer research ‘set back years’ as visa fees drive scien...
With vital studies being shelved and foreign experts turning down jobs, leading charity urges ministers to act
observer.co.uk
mmimic.bsky.social
Congratulations Cassie and team! Great to see it out, well done.
mmimic.bsky.social
And we did make it! Amazing day! We’re so grateful to all the friends, family and colleagues who helped us reach our fundraising goal!
mmimic.bsky.social
Extremely hot #BigHike
mmimic.bsky.social
We’re off on the #BigHike! Beautiful day for it, raising money for @cancerresearchuk.org
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/kendles...
mmimic.bsky.social
Happy big birthday @roscobacterium.bsky.social ! Celebrated in style at lab meeting with Tiramisu made by @celespin.bsky.social 😋
Reposted by Maslowski MMIMiC Lab
uofgcancersciences.bsky.social
We are incredibly proud to announce that the School of Cancer Sciences has been awarded the prestigious Athena Swan Gold Award ⭐
mmimic.bsky.social
An exciting opportunity to work on gamma deltas in breast cancer👇🏻. A great lab in a great institute!
mmimic.bsky.social
Summary of some our activities by our very own @roscobacterium.bsky.social for world cancer day.
roscobacterium.bsky.social
To celebrate world cancer day, I want to outline some of the work we are doing in @mmimic.bsky.social lab. We are interested in how Salmonella Typhimurium adapts to the tumour microenvironment during bacterial cancer therapy and how it interacts with cancer and immune cells.
mmimic.bsky.social
Thanks if you made it this far! This has been a really fun project with lots of twists and turns. Do check it out if it takes your interest! A lot of hard work from Alastair and super collaboration with @bendinglab.bsky.social @sarahdimeloe.bsky.social and thanks to the input from all authors 12/12
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mmimic.bsky.social
And this mechanism also fits for E.coli. EV5 shows E. coli Nissle, another popular probiotic and BCT vector also causes aborted T cell activation - so caution I guess if you wanna couple this with checkpoint blockade (as there are no checkpoints to block if T cells are disabled). 11/12
mmimic.bsky.social
Before you go - a couple of fun side notes from the sup figures. FIRST, we could have missed this phenotype without the Timer system, EV1 shows comparison with the Nr4a1-GFP and Nr4a1-Timer. GFP gives the impression all is fine bc it sticks around-don't get the info of seeing it turned off. 10/12
mmimic.bsky.social
What about back in vivo, can it still work? Well the Asnase-deficient STm still controls tumour growth, despite losing some effect on tumour stemness. SO, bringing T cells back on board is a good thing. That's where this story ends, for now! Much to unpick still! 9/12
mmimic.bsky.social
...not quite. Would have been a neat bundle of joy as is, but then we wondered about the effect on the tumour cell...so we looked and yup, Asn depletion is also reducing tumour c-myc...but that's a good thing! Use of the Asnase-KO STm restores tumour c-Myc and 'stemness' 8/12
mmimic.bsky.social
After a few rabbit holes we finally pin it down to ASPARAGINE! STm express an asparaginase (as do E. coli), and gobble up asparagine in the TME. T cells REALLY need it (c-myc really needs it). So we remove Asnase and T cells now activate beautifully - JOB DONE?! 7/12
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mmimic.bsky.social
What's going on? TCR signal transduction is fine...mTOR/AKT are fine. Finally (took us a while!) we found c-myc was the culprit - T cells in presence of STm TCM could not upreg protein levels required for metabolic switch, so activation aborts....cool....but why? 6/12
mmimic.bsky.social
Turn to RNAseq and by 16hrs stim CD4's have failed metabolic reprogramming -> check functionally by seahorse - yep T cells can't upreg glycolysis, oxphos also impaired. This occurs even with just the conditioned medium of STm-infected org's, so it's soluble 5/12
mmimic.bsky.social
T cells are dysfunctional. IFNy doesn't correlate with TCR activity, ↓PD-1 & ↓ polyfunctionality. Tumour organoid--T cell co-culture shows arrested TCR signalling after 24-48 hrs aCD3/CD28 stim. What is going on? 4/12