Weekly round-up #248

VALIDATE Seminar: A Double Bill with Institut Pasteur de Tunis
For our first VALIDATE Event of 2023, we have an exciting double bill: Two talks, covering two pathogens, from two VALIDATE members at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunisia.

First Prof Makram Essafi  will be talking about his work Targeting FOXO3 transcription factor as a Host-Directed approach to enhance the efficacy of BCG against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and then Prof Dhafer Laouini will them talk about the Institut Pasteur de Tunis.

The seminar will take place via Zoom on 25 January 2023 at 14:00 GMT. Register online - www.validate-network.org/event/tunis-seminar

A VALIDATE Review of the Year

2022 was another productive year for VALIDATE. Here are some of the highlights:

• In January, we congratulate our latest VALIDATE Fellows Dr Nastassja Kriel and Dr Cristian Segura-Cerda.
• In February, we marked the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with inspiring VALID8 interviews with Thao-Thy Pham, Wal Dutra, Chynthia Diaz and Sam Sampson.
• During March, we held our first “A Vaccine for…” seminars with A Vaccine for Melioidosis (which you can watch on YouTube).
• Throughout April, May and June we held our “A Vaccine for…” seminars with A Vaccine for Leishmaniasis?,  A Vaccine for Melioidosis?, and A Vaccine for Leprosy.  
• In June and July, we hosted our ECR Summer Showcase seminars.
• In August, we officially opened registration for our 5th Annual Meeting.
• In September, we awarded our Poster Presentations and Travel Grants for our Annual Meeting
• In October, we welcomed Adesola Adewumi to the VALIDATE team as the new Junior Project Manager.
• In November, we held the VALIDATE Workshop - NIH101: A Guide to Applying for National Institutes of Health Funding.
• December we hosted our last event of 2022 with Targeting Immunometabolism in Host Defense Against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis with Dr Luciana Balboa

In total, we hosted 12 online events, awarded 2 new Fellowships, funded 8 new Pump Priming projects,  5 new Training grants, and 32 Travel Grants so that LMIC members can attend the 5th Annual Meeting in 2023. 

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year from the VALIDATE Team

The VALIDATE Team would like to wish a you a very warm festive season and/or a Happy new year to our amazing community of members across the world. We will be back in the new year for an even busier and productive 2023 and really look forward to meeting many of you at the VALIDATE Annual Meeting.

Publications:

• Mucosal exposure to non-tuberculous mycobacteria elicits B cell-mediated immunity against pulmonary tuberculosis, Dutt TS er al, in Cell Reports
• Preprint: Multivariate Analysis Establishes Airway T Cells as a Correlate of IV BCG-Mediated Protection Against Tuberculosis in Rhesus Macaques, Patricia A. Darrah PA et al, in Cell Host & Microbe
• Immune cell interactions in tuberculosis, Flynn JL & Chan J, in CELL

Check out our Publications Page for members' publications and email VALIDATE@ndm.ox.ac.uk if you have a paper you would like us to include.