Alex Lercher

The main function of the TCA cycle is to feed electrons into the respiratory chain.
..wait, what!? It also clears excess citrate, because otherwise you get severe kidney damage?
Great example that textbooks aren’t always the full story by Abby, @juliabrunner.bsky.social and @lydiafinley.bsky.social

Julia’s paper identifying Aspartate as a determinant cell-state specific engagement of the Malate-Aspartate-Shuttle is now out @cp-molcell.bsky.social!

A CLOCK-targeting lncRNA induces trained immunity against tuberculosis Yu et al. discover that TRCR1, a tuberculosis resister-derived exosomal lncRNA, induces trained immunity via CLOCK-mediated epigenetic reprogramming. They show that mycobacterial protein MPT53 prompts...

A lncRNA packaged in exosomes induces epigenetic reprogramming to alter future immune responses - pretty cool way of "͏𝚒͏𝚗͏𝚗͏𝚊͏𝚝͏𝚎 ͏𝚒͏𝚖͏𝚖͏𝚞͏𝚗͏𝚎 ͏𝚖͏𝚎͏𝚖͏𝚘͏𝚛͏𝚢 ͏𝚝͏𝚛͏𝚊͏𝚗͏𝚜͏𝚖͏𝚒͏𝚜͏𝚜͏𝚒͏𝚘͏𝚗"

@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Thank you, Judith!

Thank you very much #ASciNA and @fwf-at.bsky.social for the ASciNA Young Investigator Award!
Link to publication @cp-immunity.bsky.social : www.cell.com/immunity/abs...

Member Highlight: Alexander Lercher on Innate Immune Memory and Real-World Microbe Responses - Biweekly newsletter of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society My name is Alexander Lercher, and I am currently a Postdoc in the lab of Charlie Rice at Rockefeller University in New York, and I am particularly excited about studying immune responses in the context...

Innate immune memory is wild 🧠
Alexander Lercher from Rockefeller dives into how cells remember past infections and prep for future ones. Type I interferon doing way more than just fighting viruses!
Full interview: buff.ly/5TKEJ9o
#CytokineSociety #ImmuneMemory #TypeIInterferon #CellsHaveMemoriesToo

Member Highlight: Alexander Lercher on Innate Immune Memory and Real-World Microbe Responses - Biweekly newsletter of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society My name is Alexander Lercher, and I am currently a Postdoc in the lab of Charlie Rice at Rockefeller University in New York, and I am particularly excited about studying immune responses in the context of real-world microbe exposure. Out from the lab, my biggest hobby for the past years has been to explore the

Thank you for the member highlight @cytokinesociety.bsky.social and see you all in Seattle for Cytokines 2025!

signals.cytokinesociety.org/2025/09/28/m...

Extremely happy to be awarded the Sidney & Joan Pestka Post-graduate award!
Thank you @cytokinesociety.bsky.social and all my mentors, colleagues and collaborators throughout my career so far!

Location, infection history, antigen persistence shape the phenotype of tissue-resident T cells (Trm), challenging the idea of a universal framework for Trm identity across organs and diseases.
High/low antigen immunogenicity may add another layer...

@cp-immunity.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/49dkc3j7

A commensal bacterium triggers systemic antibody responses via skin lymphoid structures and can be engineered as a topical vaccine – great therapeutic potential!

Two studies in @nature.com.web.brid.gy by the Fischbach and Belkaid labs

tinyurl.com/5yahn47t
tinyurl.com/4n4btxap

Link to publication and short graphical abstract below!
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

SARS-CoV-2 reprograms murine alveolar macrophages to dampen flu Innate immune cells that are epigenetically reprogrammed by infection can modify host responses to subsequent infections. Lercher et al. have identified epigenetic reprogramming of murine airway-resid...

Great Spotlight by @virusesimmunity.bsky.social and #SashaTabachnikova on our recent publication in #Immunity, where we studied antiviral innate immune memory in alveolar macrophages in the context of respiratory viral infections!

www.cell.com/trends/immun...

TWiV 1165: What doesn't kill us primes our macrophages This Week in Virology · Episode

If you are rather an auditory person than a reading person – TWIV discussed our recent paper on antiviral innate immune memory in sequential respiratory viral infections.

Paper review starts at 37:00, more general discussion and broader implications at 1:10:00.

open.spotify.com/episode/777w...

Hello there.

This is fantastic, could you please add me alercher@bsky.social - thx!

...aaaand, we even made the cover at Immunity!
Big thanks to all the funding agencies, collaborators, mentors and friends who made this paper possible!

Could a bout of COVID protect you from a severe case of flu? - News New findings could lead to therapies capable of boosting general antiviral immunity.

These findings shed light on how respiratory viral infections cross-influence their disease pathology via innate immune memory with implications for pandemic preparedness.
Press release: www.rockefeller.edu/news/36603-c...

This allowed recovered mice to be better at combatting secondary influenza A virus infection - an effect that seemed to be solely mediated by recovered alveolar macrophages, independent of SARS2-memory T cells!

We found that alveolar macrophages retain epigenetic remodeling post COVID-19 that allows them to hyper-induce antiviral genes after encountering a secondary viral pathogen

How do past viral infections influence future viral diseases? We found that SARS-CoV-2 recovery protected from severe influenza A virus disease. But how come? There seemed to be some antigen-independent immunological memory going on..

Paper at Immunity: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Chronic autoimmunity rewires metabolism in progenitors, correlating with innate immune memory formation in macrophages that increases antibacterial activity but might also aggravate autoimmune diseases?
shorturl.at/SZ1Ww

#CellStemCell

This allowed recovered mice to be better at combatting secondary influenza A virus infection - an effect that seemed to be solely mediated by recovered alveolar macrophages, independent of SARS2-memory T cells!

We found that alveolar macrophages retain epigenetic remodeling post COVID-19 that allows them to hyper-induce antiviral genes after encountering a secondary viral pathogen

Thanks for sharing and appreciating our study!

These findings highlight long-lasting consequences of past #SARSCoV2 infection and have implications for seasonality of respiratory infections.

This study was a strong team effort by the #RiceLab, #JosefowiczLab and #RosenbergLab

Curious how commonly circulating respiratory viruses affect respective disease?

Past SARS2 infection ameliorates disease caused by secondary influenza virus via innate immune memory in airway-resident macrophages. @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social link below.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...