10 year anniversary as a professor to have my own lab!
All started from Feb. 1, 2016 moving to Wadsworth and Feb. 1, 2024 moving to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Where will I be in next 10 year anniversary? 😉
Our work was highlighted as top research stories in Tufts University social media "Tufts Now" ("Alternative Approach to Lyme Disease Vaccine Development Shows Promise in Pre-clinical Models
")! bit.ly/4jf13cG
Happy holidays/Merry Christmas/Happy New Year! From Lin lab 🎄 🎅
Lin lab tradition: everyone gets a bottle of wines Yi-Pin collected when traveling all over the world this year! (We have wines from Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Turkey, & France)
Koala. 🐨 Aww….
Whole complement conference of people (200 people) are waiting to pet koala ($100 to pet for 10 seconds 🤣) glad this is included in the conference registration fee.
My second time in International Complement Workshop. So happy to meet my Danish collaborator and friend, Gregers Andersen!
my Swedish collaborator, Anna Blom (thank you for the the tick anti-complement OmCI)
and Meiqing Shi, George Chaconas’s former postdoc (current professor in Univ Maryland)!
After traveling thru N. America (Chicago), Europe (Istanbul), Egypt (Cairo), Shanghai (Asia), finally I’m in Brisbane, Australia! Excited to meet old friends and new colleagues talking about tick and Lyme bacteria anti-complement proteins in International Complement Workshop (ICW).
Tick meeting is done, now I’m traveling to Australia for international complement conference (ICW). First stop, Istanbul, Turkey! Before that, absolutely enjoy some vodka cocktail in the lounge at Chicago airport!
I gave a talk for the story of our CspZ Lyme disease vaccines. I enjoy this tick-Lyme conference for meeting old and new friends
I met people in the pic when we all were trainee. We now all have our own lab and field of expertise in different university!
I’m in Chicago! Welcome to International Conference of Lyme disease and other tickborne diseases (ICLB)!
My September business + personal trip starts! The first stop: Chicago for ICLB conference (international conferences of Lyme Borreliosis)
The tradition of any friends visiting me and going with me to Boston is to have lobster! Of course Ai my collaborator and friend would need a lobster 🦞
Autumn is the bird banding season because of the migration. Working on ticks,birds, Lyme again!
My collaborator Ai Takano and I visited our local bird banding station. Met so many enthusiastic volunteers bird banders!
Today is also our research day at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Thanks for my DVM students, Renner Thomas and Audrey Ponder (Very interesting work of wild birds), and PhD student, Sergio Hernandez giving great talks. So proud that Sergio got the best poster award!
Remember I went to Japan to collect ticks this May? So happy to host my collaborator, Ai Takano, from Yamaguchi Univ. at Japan to to talk about her work on tickborne pathogenss, wildlife animals, and Lyme disease in Japan. IImpressed on >200 people attending her talk! Very relevant talk!
My postdoc boss, John Leong, invited me to give a talk at Tufts Medical School yesterday. Very happy to see many old and new friends/colleagues as well as my drinking picture still on the refrigerator in the lab. I have no idea but I look nice and young 🤣
Thanks for the support from @tuftsvet.bsky.social and the collaborations with the team in Utpal Pal's lab from Universeity of Maryland and Keith Wycoff's team in Planetbiotechnology, Inc.
Complement kills Lyme disease bacteria, but bacteria evolve to produce anti-complement proteins to escape killing. Our work @jimmunol.bsky.social turned such escaping to a killing strategy as a Pre-exposure prophylaxis, which can a hope for people refusing vaccines to handle LD.
shorturl.at/BagpT
We then have to be very careful to collect samples (blood) and take out the ticks. Some birds (like Veery) really had loads of the ticks.
Let’s culture the Lyme bacteria from ticks and see what genotypes we got!
The first step of trapping the birds is to identify the sites that is at the edge of the wood so you’ll have lots of birds passing by.
Setting up the net absolutely needs some efforts. Check on my DVM student, Audrey, working very hard to set up the net
The most challenging work of mist netting is to take the birds from entangled net while the birds are screaming. Here are examples of woodpeckers and catbirds. My DVM student, Renner, worked very hard to take out the birds from the net. That’s his first time!
Come to join my technician, Miranda, and the summer DVM students, Renner and Audrey. We are going to the field to trap birds in understanding wild birds’ role in tickborne diseases/Lyme disease!
Special thanks for Alan Dupuis, my colleague/friend at Wadsworth visiting and training us!
Although Ixodes persulcatus tick is the major tick species transmitting human Lyme infectious bacteria in northern Asia, the other tick species can also transmit those human important Lyme bacteria. That is “Ixodes pavlovski “ take a look to see how we can differentiate them.
In Hokkaido, there’re three major tick species that can be collected via dragging (Ixodes persulcatus, Ixodes ovatus, and Haemaphysalis spp). I. Persulcatus transmits Lyme disease bacteria in northern Asia. are focusing on this tick but differentiating tick species is not easy
We’re Traveling to Nemuro, Hokkaido to collect ticks. This site is also a bird banding station as it is on the fall migration route of wild birds. We met local bird bander setting up the mist net, saw the endangered red crown crane, learned banders study the bird migration route
Many eagle species here in Kushiro wildlife conservation center are endangered and specific to Japan including White-tailed eagles and Blakiston Fish Owls. Scientists and DVMs here also search for their nests, sample/band the birds to monitor their health and also track their migration.
At Kushiro, Japan visiting Dr. Saito, the lead scientist in Kushiro Marsh Wildlife Conservation Center. They specialise in rehabilitation of endangered eagles and owls. Many DVMs here treated wildlife animals, put reporters to prepare their release.
Field season starts so I’m heading to Sapporo (Hokkaido) at Japan to collect the Asian Ixodes ticks carrying Lyme disease bacteria! Good luck to get many ticks!
I have lots of pictures like that 🤣 safe trip Brian!
Thanks for #TuftsUnivesrity sharing our story with @mebottazzi.bsky.social, WenHsiang Chen, Kalvis Brangulis, Chinglin Hsieh to turn a bacterial protein that people gave up hope into a very powerful Lyme disease vaccine candidate! shorturl.at/nESG5
@bcmhouston.bsky.social @tuftsvet.bsky.social
