#23: The PhD Fellowship Application Survival Guide

In this episode of Inflammatory Content, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero explores the debilitating skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and takes a deep dive into a recent Immunity paper that comprehensively examines the role of tertiary lymphoid structures in HS pathogenesis. HS has long defied simple classification, with prevailing disease models emphasizing hair follicle dysfunction, aberrant wound healing, or chronic inflammation. This work adds a new dimension by implicating autoimmunity as a central contributor to HS pathogenesis, further underscoring the complexity of the disease.Relevant Links:• Paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12404358/• Commentary: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11790253/If you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast! You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-Cavagnero.I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.Stay curious and keep exploring at www.inflammatorycontent.com

In this episode of Inflammatory Content, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero breaks down a new Nature paper showing that a subset of skin neutrophils doesn’t just fight bacteria—they also build extracellular matrix (ECM). After injury, these neutrophils rapidly assemble rings of ECM around the wound that strengthen the barrier and limit bacterial entry. This program depends on TGF-β signaling within neutrophils; when that pathway is disabled, the rings fail to form and bacteria penetrate more easily. Relevant Links:• Paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40108463/• Commentary: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-025-01170-5If you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast! You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-Cavagnero.I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.Stay curious and keep exploring at www.inflammatorycontent.com

In this episode of Inflammatory Content, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero dives into a landmark 2024 Nature study by Thierry Nordman and colleagues, titled “Spatial proteomics identifies JAKi as treatment for a lethal skin disease.” This cutting-edge research changes the game for patients suffering from toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN)—a devastating cutaneous adverse drug reaction with limited treatment options.Using a powerful approach including spatial proteomics and mouse models of TEN, the authors identify interferon signaling as a key inflammatory pathway driving TEN. Most remarkably, they repurpose an FDA-approved JAK inhibitor to safely and effectively treat patients with TEN in a small clinical trial.This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in how ‘omics technologies can rapidly unlock therapies for even the rarest and most lethal diseases.Relevant Links:• Paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39415009/• Commentary: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39501097/If you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast! You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-Cavagnero.I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.Stay curious and keep exploring at www.inflammatorycontent.com.

In this episode, Dr. Kellen Cavagnero is joined by Dr. Dequina Nicholas. Dr. Nicholas is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Her laboratory studies endocrine diseases, including type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome. Specifically, her group investigates the intersection of the nutrient environment, the immune system, and metabolic disease using a combination of molecular and cellular biology, transgenic mouse models, cytokine profiling, and flow cytometry. Dr. Nicholas is the recipient of numerous awards including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. In their conversation, Kellen and Dequina discuss type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, lipid antigen presentation, transitioning to independence, DEI, and more. Relevant Links:• Nicholas Lab Website: https://nicholaslab.bio.uci.edu/• Transitioning to Independence: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35644775/• TikTok: @NicholasLab • X: @QuinaScience• Bluesky: @quinascience.bsky.socialIf you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast! You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-Cavagnero.I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.Stay curious and keep exploring at www.inflammatorycontent.com.

Today we’re going to do a journal club, but it will not be your run of the mill journal club. Everyone who knows me knows I am always searching for the latest technology that can increase my efficiency. Lately, I have been especially attuned to the newest developments in artificial intelligence.Well, I recently discovered a new AI tool by Google called NotebookLM that creates audio overviews of documents. What this means is that it will--within minutes--create a journal club podcast if you upload a research article. It is BANANAS! There are a few minor instances where the speech is buggy and words are mis-pronounced, but, overall, I am super impressed with how well it communicates research findings—very accessible and high fidelity.So today I bring to you an experimental AI generated journal club on my 2 latest research articles. The first article was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in early 2024 and the second was published as a preprint (meaning not yet peer reviewed) on bioRxiv in late 2024.Relevant Links:• Paper 1: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38393304/• Paper 2: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38979312/If you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast. You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-CavagneroI’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X (formerly Twitter) @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.

One of the most common questions I get from undergraduate and graduate students is: How do I get a Ph.D. fellowship? During my Ph.D., I was fortunate to be awarded two fellowships, and I’ve received two more as a postdoc. In this solo episode, I provide an overview of the who, what, where, when, why, and how of Ph.D. fellowship applications, with the goal of helping you secure a fellowship to support your research. Please reach out to me if you would like the PowerPoint version of The Ph.D. Fellowship Application Survival Guide. Relevant Links:• NOFO Database: https://research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-opportunities/graduate/• NIH Grant Writing Course: https://bouviergrant.com/If you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast. You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-Cavagnero.I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X (formerly Twitter) @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.Stay curious and keep exploring at www.inflammatorycontent.com.

In this episode, Kellen is joined by Dr. Aaron Oom, a Postdoctoral Scholar in the lab of Dr. Mark Mulligan at NYU Langone Health. Aaron is an expert in virology and immunology. He completed his Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. John Guatelli’s at UC San Diego. Aaron has made significant contributions to our understanding of viruses including HIV, Zika, and Dengue. Now, as a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Mulligan lab, he’s focused on Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), which has recently re-emerged as a major global health threat. In this conversation, Kellen and Aaron discuss Aaron’s recent mpox publication, the challenges of transitioning to independence, the tough decisions around “killing” projects that aren’t working, and much more. Relevant Links:• Mulligan Lab Website: https://med.nyu.edu/research/mulligan-lab/• Aaron’s MedRxiv preprint: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.28.24301893v1• Mpox review: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-022-00775-4If you enjoy Inflammatory Content and want to help me keep the conversations going, consider supporting the podcast! You can write a review, share this episode with friends and colleagues, or make a donation to help keep the show ad-free and thriving. Your contributions, big or small, go directly toward covering production costs and allow me to bring you even more Inflammatory Content. You can donate directly here: https://venmo.com/Kellen-Cavagnero.I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out with questions, feedback, or topic suggestions via email at [email protected], on X (formerly Twitter) @KellenCavagnero, or connect with me on LinkedIn.Stay curious and keep exploring at www.inflammatorycontent.com.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified thousands of disease-associated genetic variants. Many of these variants lie in non-coding regions of the genome, making interpretation of GWAS difficult and leading to poor translation into therapeutics. In this episode, Kellen reviews an exciting original article published in Nature in June 2024 titled, “A disease-associated gene desert directs macrophage inflammation through ETS2”. Here, Stankey et al. use a cutting-edge functional genomic strategy to identify a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38839969/To help us spread science, please consider writing a review, sharing this episode with your friends and colleagues, or donating to support our work (Venmo @Kellen-Cavagnero). Please reach out to us via email ([email protected]) or X (@KellenCavagnero) with any questions, comments, topic suggestions, etc.

Dr. Miguel Reina-Campos is an Assistant Professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in La Jolla, California. The Reina lab seeks to understand the underlying principles governing tissue immune networks that enable robust and long-term protection against infection and tumors.In this conversation, Miguel and Kellen talk about cancer, metabolism, tissue resident memory T cells, spatial transcriptomics, advice for postdocs pursuing academia, and much more.Reina Lab: https://www.lji.org/labs/reina-lab/Reina BioRxiv 2024: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38585842/Reina Nature 2023: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37648857/Reina Cancer Cell 2019: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30827887/Reina Nature Reviews Immunology 2021: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33981085/Twitter/X: @MReinaCamposTo help us spread science, please consider writing a review, sharing this episode with your friends and colleagues, or donating to support our work (Venmo @Kellen-Cavagnero). Please reach out to us via email ([email protected]) or X (@KellenCavagnero) with any questions, comments, topic suggestions, etc.

Dr. Gur-Cohen is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Regenerative Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Gur-Cohen’s work has unearthed the lymphatic capillary network as a novel stem cell niche component, and her multidisciplinary strategy has advanced our knowledge of how stem cells synchronize and coordinate tissue regeneration. In this conversation, Shiri and Kellen talk about stem cells, lymphatics, and microscopy. As a relatively new principal investigator, Shiri has a lot of advice for trainees in regards to choosing a postdoc, and she talks with Kellen about the topic at length in this conversation. Gur-Cohen lab website: https://gurcohenlab.com/Lymphatics stem cell interaction paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31672914/To help us spread science, please consider writing a review, sharing this episode with your friends and colleagues, or donating to support our work (Venmo @Kellen-Cavagnero). Please reach out to us via email ([email protected]) or Twitter (@KellenCavagnero) with any questions, comments, topic suggestions, etc.