Microbiologist and Icerink Connoisseur. . .Humor expressed not necessarily my own. Militantly antagonistic to full justification formatting.

Tufts Medical School
Joined November 2019
Ralph Isberg retweeted
🚨🚨 When we take antibiotics we assume they'll kill the bad bugs but won't affect us directly. In our new story @NatureMicrobiol , we found that's not always the case and developed a tool, CompoRes, to identify these direct effects on the host /1 nature.com/articles/s41564-0…
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
We are searching for a new colleague in our Department of Biology at University of Oregon! This is a super special opportunity-- an endowed chair position in Genetics/Genomics. Come join us! I'm happy to answer any questions folks might have careers.pageuppeople.com/726…
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Flagellin-induced pyroptosis, which tortured my research projects 25 years ago, continues to torture me when I get a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine? Just in time for Pyrotech in China to start testing gasdermin inhibitors.
New @ScienceMagazine A breakthrough in understanding why we get fever and an inflammation response to vaccines. The gut microbiome chronic production of flagellin Paves the way to potentially prevent these acute phase side-effects in the future science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Published today, there's a lot in Michael Lewis's new book we didn't know about. Including the NIH, unbridled assertion of power, and many civil servant heroes (the "blockers") erictopol.substack.com/p/mic…
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Many of you have been tracking the Irkutsk lab situation over the last few days. I've been gathering facts and trying to understand what is happening before weighing in. Now that I have, I have to say — I'm concerned 🧵
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Cell–cell interactions are key to all biological processes, but there hasn't been a good way to perform inter-cellular screens for genetic regulators of these interactions in vivo. We developed match-seq (multiplexed associative tagging of cell interaction histories) - using engineered virus-like particles to transfer barcoded mRNAs from 'sender' to neighboring 'receiver' cells, so you can reconstruct cellular interactions with sequencing alone, no imaging required. We coupled match-seq with CRISPR + scRNA-seq in cancer, revealing cancer-immune interaction neighborhoods at scale, and new cancer genes that can be targeted for tumor rejection via immune cell interactions. Led by the brilliant @peterdu_ with Bassik lab! biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
CRISPR screens are great at telling you what a gene is doing inside your cells. But what if you're interested in what's happening to its neighbors? Today, I'm excited to share match-seq, a new method that deciphers cell-cell interactions using barcoded RNA transfer. 1/9
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Wow. Yet another live-cell RNA-sequencing technology. The classic criticism of transcriptomics as being an "autopsy" (measuring end-states, not trajectories) is become less and less valid. Cool stuff!
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Through the Center for Expanding Viewpoints at Tufts, we’re supporting 10 courses/reading groups this fall, including many taught by our new class of postdoctoral fellows. More here: cevihe.org/august2026newslet…
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Moderna/Merck just ran a 1,137-patient Phase 3 trial where every single dose was unique to that patient's tumor. It worked. The pipeline: surgical resection → whole exome + RNA sequencing → ML neoantigen ranking → mRNA encoding up to 34 patient-specific targets → manufactured and shipped in 8 weeks. One drug, different sequence for every patient. The ML step is worth to note: the algorithm ingests WES + RNA-seq to identify somatic mutations, then predicts which of those will actually be immunogenic, ie, displayed on tumor cell surface and trigger a T-cell response. It's designed to keep learning from accumulated clinical and immunogenicity data across patients, not just per-patient. INTerpath-001 (Stage IIB-IV resected melanoma, 2:1 randomized): combination with pembrolizumab beat Keytruda alone on both primary (RFS) and key secondary (DMFS) at interim. Phase 2b at ASCO 2026 showed 49% reduction in recurrence/death, 59% in distant metastasis/death at 5 years. Phase 3 confirmed both. What this validates: — tumor-specific neoantigen prediction by ML works in a blinded trial at scale — 8-week personalized mRNA manufacturing is operationally real — effect is additive on PD-1 blockade, not redundant This is first positive Ph3 for individualized neoantigen therapy. First positive Ph3 for any mRNA cancer therapeutic. What a great time to live in!! This is the best time for AI & biotech!
Moderna and @Merck today announced positive topline results from the Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial evaluating adjuvant treatment with intismeran autogene, a novel investigational mRNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy jointly developed by Merck and Moderna, in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, in patients with completely resected Stage IIB-IV melanoma. Read more:
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
There has been a slow but seemingly inexorable industrialization of academic science that, while apparently laudable for its “practicality”, risks stamping out that which makes academic science beautiful and precious to begin with.
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
The exceptional @drmichaellevin is all over the place today! I listened to him on @BBCRadio4 #Sideways this morning (bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002zg…) & then here he is in this rich portrait in @NYMag by @lizweil nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Creativity is ultimately rooted in the individual –Ruth Lehmann, Director of the Whitehead Institute, MIT
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A reminder of what we’re witnessing: • Measles is surging • Cyclospora has reached record levels • New World screwworm has returned after nearly 60 years Investing in science, surveillance, and public health is far less costly than responding to a crisis.
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Last year some regrettable cost cutting decisions were made about foodborne pathogen testing, ending 28 years of screening for cyclosporiasis and quickly catching and quenching several outbreaks. Now we still have no idea what the source of this outbreak is. This is the price!!!
CDC cuts back foodborne illness surveillance program The CDC's FoodNet program has reduced required surveillance from eight foodborne pathogens to two, a move some experts warn could leave the country more vulnerable to outbreaks. cidrap.umn.edu/foodborne-dis…
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Behold: another infectious disease. Another curve breaking away from its historical baseline.
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
Corruption like this finally means we’re a proper soccer country doesn’t it
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
The staffing crunch is so severe that the NIMH has asked its intramural grad students and postdocs to volunteer in this admin capacity temporarily. Also: the institute's acting deputy director - the second in charge - is devoting half of her time to grants management.
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Ralph Isberg retweeted
NEW: A serious staffing shortage — of the Trump admin's own making — is delaying the agency's ability to send billions to universities around the US, leaving labs reeling. “I thought we were at rock bottom”, a senior NIH official said. “We are below rock bottom now.”
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