On Friday, March 6, 2026, Isabella Badolati will defend her doctoral thesis, “Deciphering immune, microbial and metabolic signatures in allergic diseases,” at Stockholm University. In this interview, she explains the research behind her thesis and what she hopes it can contribute to the field.

Human microbiota-associated (HMA) models are used to allow in vivo studies of the human gut microbiome and its effects on host physiology. In particular, alterations in early life microbiota have been linked to allergy development during childhood. In this study, Ymke de Jong et al investigated how pools of human microbiota collected from infants with different allergy risk thrive in mice and their offspring, as well as how they influence the host metabolome.  

On Friday, April 4, 2025, Clàudia Arasa Cuartiella will defend her doctoral thesis, “Unraveling the immune response to Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A – From calm seas to cytokine storms: navigating the superantigenic tide”, at Stockholm University. Her research delves into how Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A (SEA), a virulence factor of Staphylococcus aureus, interacts with the immune system. Before the defence, we have had the opportunity to have a short interview.

In a new study, Group Sverremark-Ekström shows that extremely preterm infants have monocyte characteristics and functional features that deviate from infants born full-term. Some of these differences persist until they reach an age corresponding to full-term, potentially making them more vulnerable to microbial exposures during the first months of life.

Staphylococcus aureus-derived factors promote human Th9 cell polarization and enhance a transcriptional program associated with allergic inflammation Abstract T helper (Th) 9 cells, characterized by robust secretion of IL-9, have been increasingly associated with allergic diseases. However, whether and how Th9 cells are modulated by environmental stimuli remains poorly understood. In this study, we show that in vitro exposure of human PBMCs or isolated CD4 T-cells to Staphylococcus (S.) aureus-derived factors, including its toxins, potently enhances Th9 cell frequency and IL-9 secretion. Furthermore, as revealed by RNA sequencing analysis, S. aureus increases the expression of Th9-promoting factors at the transcriptional level, such as FOXO1, miR-155, and TNFRSF4. The addition of retinoic acid (RA) dampens the Th9 responses promoted by S. aureus and substantially changes the transcriptional program induced by this bacterium, while also altering the expression of genes associated with allergic inflammation. Together, our results demonstrate a strong influence of microbial and dietary factors on Th9 cell polarization, which may be important in the context of allergy development and treatment. Read the full article