@ispyexplore
With support of the Leducq Foundation, the iSPY Explore Network, led by UC San Diego in partnership with Imperial College London (iSpy Life), unites 14 investigators from the USA, Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand to understand streptococcal immunity.
📣 What is the impact of expanded antibiotic prophylaxis during an iGAS surge? Read it in our new publication: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
By expanding antibiotic prophylaxis to household contacts of all iGAS patients, secondary household infections were reduced by 83%.
New Year's 2026 Party and this year's Lab T-Shirt
Latest from @mrcunitgambia.bsky.social #StrepA group. Show clinical decision rules developed elsewhere (mostly HIC) have poor performance in Gambia & molecular tests detect far more #StrepA than culture. Given burden of RhD in Africa we urgently need better & affordable tests for #StrepA diagnosis
Definitely worth a read and raises all sorts of questions about how quickly we become vulnerable as a population if we aren’t immune/immunised.👇
🧵 Our paper out today in @naturemedicine.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
On development of #StrepA #Immunity over life course in #TheGambia raising hope for #vaccines on the horizon
1/
#Immunosky #IDsky #MicroSky #globalhealth.
Our latest work used Phip-Seq to explore the autoantibody repertoire in rheumatic fever ➡️ saw evidence of epitope spreading and identified a new disease associated antigen with biomarker potential 🧪
Great collaboration with MSSM and led by @rhcmcg.bsky.social and @laurencarlton.bsky.social at UoA
This paper has everything I could wish for in a scientific insight!
Puppy ➡️ Strep ➡️ Happiness
Dog ownership in adolescents was associated with fewer social problems and altered gut microbiota. Notably, a Streptococcus ASV correlated with sociability in both adolescents and ex-germ-free mice.
New @plosbiology.org paper from Sumedha Ravishankar, PhD and the Cressida Madigan Lab applies the powerful and optically transparent zebrafish embryo model to study group B streptococcal transit of the blood-brain barrier.
Beautiful time-lapse confocal microscopy!
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Why did invasive #strepA infections increase in young children after the pandemic?
In this new @imperialinfect.bsky.social PREPRINT *not peer-reviewed* we look at antibody responses to #strepA and resp viruses in European children before and after the pandemic:
www.medrxiv.org/cgi/content/...
New preprint alert 🚨
My team and I are pleased to share our most recent story about how bacterial pathogen (Streptococcus pyogenes, Strep A) exposure induces antibody responses against glycan and protein antigens.
For paper: SSRN ssrn.com/abstract=519...
biorxiv : doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
From 2013 to 2022, invasive group A Streptococcus infections increased in 10 US states, with higher incidence among older adults, American Indian or Alaska Native persons, and vulnerable groups. https://ja.ma/3G9OPT2
Rheumatic heart disease arises from repeated Group A Strep infections, leading to autoimmune heart damage. New research advances knowledge of its progression, offering hope for better interventions.
Review by Adrien Lupieri et al, LeDucq Foundation PRIMA Network
www.frontiersin.org/journals/car...
🔥❤️🔥🔥❤️🔥 #LISSSD25 in Brisbane. Get in line (in pairs or chains) and get moving on your abstracts (open NOW).
if your research relates to any -ology of catalase negative Gram + cocci (starts with Strep*) with an impact on human health - you belong at #LISSSD25!!!!
www.lisssd2025.org/abstract-sub...
Abstract submission extended 72h until Wed Feb 5th 1159 pm 🇦🇺 EDT. >300 abstracts submitted so far! Get yours in! mailchi.mp/f0e900990ac5...
Following relaxation of #COVID19 restrictions surges in infections from respiratory pathogens like RSV and #StrepA have been seen in many countries including Aotearoa New Zealand.
Did waning immunity contribute? We explored this concept in our latest work, see 🧵 academic.oup.com/jid/advance-...
📣Research Technician job alert! Needed to support our #iSpyLIFE field work and #strep biobanking. www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
INVASIVE GROUP A STREP HAS BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME
Hippocrates
5th century BC
EPIDEMICS III
“Early in the spring—at the same time as the cold snaps which occurred—were many malignant cases of erysipelas, some from a known exciting cause and some not. Many died—and many suffered pain in the throat”
Hey Group A Strep Fans
New in Nature Communications from Di Tang in Johan Malmström Lab in Lund Sweden
Streptolysin O binds plasminogen, inducing conformational shifts that enhance plasminogen activation, revealing a conserved role beyond its cytolytic activity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This #StrepA paper was a LONG labour of love from a great team 😊 Equal first & senior author credits buried at the very end, so I want to highlight the critical contributions of Dr Hannah Frost & @njmoreland.bsky.social & Dr Danika Hill @precisionvaxlab.bsky.social rdcu.be/d2gBV
We're live! The iSPY Explore Network is on a mission to uncover immune correlates of streptococcal infection. Join us on this exciting journey of discovery! #StrepResearch #iSPYExplore #UCSanDiego