🎉 Congratulations to Marta and Hannah on Their Next Steps!

We are thrilled to celebrate two exciting milestones from our lab members as they take the next steps in their scientific careers.

Marta has been accepted into the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences at Oregon Health & Science University. This achievement reflects her dedication, hard work, and passion for science, and we are excited to see her continue her journey toward becoming an independent researcher.

Hannah has been accepted into the NIH IRTA Postbaccalaureate Program at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML). This highly competitive program at the National Institutes of Health provides recent graduates with immersive research training in a world-class scientific environment. At RML, Hannah will further develop her research skills and contribute to cutting-edge studies in infectious disease and immunology.

We are incredibly proud of both Marta and Hannah for these outstanding accomplishments. Their success is a testament to their talent and perseverance, and we look forward to seeing all they will achieve in the next stage of their careers.

Congratulations, Marta and Hannah! 🎓✨

Lena and Her Work Featured in The Scientist

We’re excited to share that Lena and her research have been featured in The Scientist, highlighting new perspectives on how microbes — including mitochondria — can be leveraged to combat infection.

The article, “Using Domesticated Microbes to Fight Infection,” explores the emerging idea that not all microbes are enemies. Instead, some, including those already living within our cells, can act as allies in host defense. In this context, Lena’s work is highlighted for uncovering how mitochondria, descendants of ancient bacteria, can actively contribute to host defense by competing with invading pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii for essential nutrients.

This feature underscores a growing shift in the field: rather than focusing solely on eliminating pathogens, researchers are exploring ways to enhance host-driven defenses and reshape the intracellular environment to limit infection.

We’re thrilled to see Lena’s work gaining recognition and contributing to this exciting and evolving area of research.

Read the feature in The Scientist:

Please join us in celebrating this exciting recognition!

🚨 New Preprint from the Lab — Featured in Nature News & Views

We are excited to share our latest preprint, now available on bioRxiv: Pathogen-induced formation of a nascent organelle derived from mitochondria.

In this study, we uncover a striking new mechanism by which the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii reprograms host mitochondria to generate a novel, infection-supporting organelle. Upon infection, host mitochondria shed large outer membrane–derived structures, termed SPOTs, which mature into acidified, multivesicular compartments. These compartments incorporate cytosolic material and host lysosomes through a process requiring both host ESCRT machinery and the parasite effector TgGRA7.

Importantly, SPOT acidification is critical for parasite growth, revealing a previously unrecognized strategy by which T. gondii reshapes host organelle biology to promote infection. More broadly, this work suggests that mitochondria can be reprogrammed to form new organelles with specialized functions.

We are especially excited that this study has already been highlighted in a News & Views article in Nature, underscoring the significance and broad interest of these findings:

Preprints allow us to share discoveries with the community ahead of peer review, and we’re thrilled to see this work already gaining attention.

Please join us in celebrating this exciting milestone! 🚀

Nelly Presents Her Poster at UCLA Microbiome Symposium

We are excited to share that Nelly presented her work as a poster at the 3rd Annual Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center Symposium at UCLA.

This annual symposium brings together researchers, clinicians, and trainees to explore cutting-edge microbiome research, spanning topics from human health and disease to environmental and engineered microbial systems. The meeting serves as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange, highlighting the growing impact of microbial communities on immunity, metabolism, and overall health.

Nelly’s participation in the poster session provided an opportunity to share her research with a broad scientific audience, engage in discussions with experts across disciplines, and contribute to the vibrant UCLA microbiome research community.

Please join us in congratulating Nelly on representing the lab at this exciting event! 👏

👋 Welcome Jaewoo Choi to the Lab!

We are happy to welcome Jaewoo Choi, who has joined our lab as an undergraduate volunteer.

Jaewoo is currently pursuing a B.Sc. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics (2025–present), following his undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences at El Camino College (2022–2025). He is particularly interested in the mechanisms of mitochondrial membrane shedding.

In the lab, Jaewoo will be working alongside team members to gain hands-on research experience and contribute to ongoing projects.

Outside of research, he enjoys watching movies and listening to Cage The Elephant, and counts Interstellar as his favorite film.

We’re excited to have Jaewoo join the team and look forward to supporting his growth as a scientist. Welcome, Jaewoo!

Jose and Nick Present at Keystone Symposia on Innate Immunity

We are excited to share that our postdoctoral fellow Jose Delgado and PhD student Nick Coburn presented their work as posters at the Keystone Symposia: Innate Immunity: Diversity in Host Defense and Disease, held March 22–25, 2026 in Banff, Canada.

This Keystone Symposia meeting brings together leading scientists and trainees to explore the latest advances in innate immune mechanisms, including how cells detect infection, initiate inflammatory responses, and coordinate host defense.

Poster sessions at Keystone meetings are highly interactive and provide an important platform for sharing new research, receiving feedback, and building collaborations within the international immunology community.

Jose and Nick’s participation reflects the strength of their research and their contributions to advancing our understanding of host–pathogen interactions and immune regulation.

Please join us in congratulating Jose and Nick on representing the lab at this prestigious meeting!

🎤 Melissa Presents at the 4th Annual SoCal Metabolism Symposium

Congratulations to Melissa, who was selected to give a talk at the 4th Annual SoCal Metabolism Symposium, held on March 20, 2026 at Sanford Burnham Prebys in San Diego.

This annual symposium brings together the Southern California metabolism research community for a day of scientific exchange, networking, and collaboration. The meeting highlights cutting-edge research across a range of topics, including metabolic signaling, nutrient sensing, cancer metabolism, and metabolism in aging.

In addition to featuring leading scientists in the field, the symposium showcases trainee speakers, providing a platform for emerging researchers to present their work to a broad and engaged audience.

Melissa’s selection for a talk reflects both the quality and impact of her research, as well as her ability to communicate science effectively to the broader community. Presenting at this symposium is a fantastic opportunity to share new findings, receive feedback, and build connections within the Southern California metabolism field.

Please join us in congratulating Melissa on this exciting achievement! 👏

Welcome to the Pernas Lab, Elizabeth!

We are excited to welcome Elizabeth Turcotte as the newest postdoc of the Pernas Lab!

Elizabeth joins us after completing her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley (2018–2025). Prior to that, she was a Postbaccalaureate IRTA Fellow at the NIH (NICHD), where she studied mitosis in the lab of Dr. Mary Dasso. She earned her B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of Northern Iowa, where she worked on Leishmania with Dr. Nilda Rodriguez.

Elizabeth is broadly interested in how organelles interact with and sense pathogens and pathogen-encoded activities, making her a perfect fit for our group.

We are thrilled to have her bring her expertise and enthusiasm in our lab!

New preprint Alert: Social Exposure Primes Immunity

We are excited to share our latest preprint from our postdoc Wilson, Temitope Ademolue, now available on bioRxiv, which uncovers a previously unrecognized form of immune regulation in mammals driven by social exposure.

Social sensing of infection reprograms peripheral immunity in healthy mice.

In the study, Wilson and Lena asks whether mammals, like plants and insects, can mount protective immune responses based on exposure to infected neighbors. Using a mouse co-housing model, the they show that healthy mice living alongside conspecifics infected with the non-communicable parasite Toxoplasma gondii undergo a significant shift in peripheral immune responses — despite never being infected themselves!

This exposure to infected cage-mates establishes a primed immune state that enhances physiological resilience. Notably, exposed mice were better protected against a subsequent sublethal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inflammatory challenge. Mechanistically, this protection was mediated by increased IL-10 production from myeloid cells. Blocking IL-10 signaling eliminated the exposure-induced protection, demonstrating a key role for this anti-inflammatory pathway.

Together, these findings reveal that immune responses in healthy mammals can be shaped by social exposure to infected individuals, pointing to a form of social immunity previously thought to be restricted to plants and invertebrates. This work opens new avenues for understanding how social environments influence immune homeostasis and disease resilience.

📄 Read the preprint:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.28.702380v1

Please join us in congratulating Wilson on this exciting new work and in sharing this study with colleagues!

🎉 Congratulations to Lena on Receiving Tenure at UCLA!

We are thrilled to announce that Lena, our Principal Investigator, has officially been awarded tenure at UCLA.

Tenure is a major milestone in an academic career and reflects sustained excellence in research, teaching, and service, as well as a strong commitment to advancing the university’s mission. This achievement recognizes Lena’s impactful scientific contributions, leadership, and dedication to mentoring trainees and building a collaborative research environment.

Receiving tenure secures Lena’s long-term position at UCLA and provides the academic freedom to continue pursuing innovative and ambitious research directions. For our lab, this milestone marks an exciting moment of stability and growth as we look ahead to new discoveries, collaborations, and opportunities.

Please join us in congratulating Lena on this well-deserved accomplishment — we are proud to be part of her lab and excited for what’s to come! 🎓✨

Research Highlight: Chahat’s Work Featured in Trends in Parasitology!

A recent highlight of Chahat’s work has been published in Trends in Parasitology, showcasing new insights into how Toxoplasma gondii interfaces with host cell organelles to support intracellular survival.

The article discusses recent studies by Chahat Mehra et al. and Romano et al., revealing that T. gondii actively connects its parasitophorous vacuole (PV) to the host endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Rather than disrupting vacuolar integrity, the parasite employs a secretory relay involving dense granule and rhoptry effectors to establish specialized membrane contact sites between the PV and the ER.

These contact sites allow T. gondii to access host-derived metabolites while maintaining the protective barrier of the parasitophorous vacuole — a strategy that highlights the parasite’s remarkable ability to remodel host cell architecture for its own benefit. This work advances our understanding of host–pathogen interactions and identifies new conceptual frameworks for studying metabolic exchange during intracellular infection.

We congratulate Chahat on this impactful contribution to the field and on having this work featured in Trends in Parasitology, a leading journal in parasitology research!

Congratulations to Christian — Selected for Poster Presentation at the National Collegiate Research Conference!

We are thrilled to announce that Christian has been selected to present a poster at the National Collegiate Research Conference (NCRC), to be held in January 2026 at Harvard University!

NCRC is the largest student-run undergraduate research conference in the United States, bringing together hundreds of talented student researchers from over 100 universities around the world. The conference provides a platform for undergraduate students across disciplines — including the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and humanities — to share their research, engage with peers and mentors, and participate in a vibrant community of young scholars.

We are incredibly proud of Christian’s scientific accomplishments and excitement for the opportunities this experience will bring. Presenting at NCRC is not only a chance to highlight his work but also to contribute to a national conversation on cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary inquiry.

Please join us in congratulating Christian on this outstanding achievement! 🎓👏

Lena is Accepted as a Member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC)

We are delighted to announce that Lena, has been accepted as a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC).

The JCCC is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center and a highly collaborative research community that brings together investigators with a strong and sustained commitment to cancer research. Membership is granted through a competitive review process and recognizes investigators with impactful cancer-focused research programs, strong publication records, and active engagement in advancing cancer science and patient care.

As a JCCC member, Lena joins a multidisciplinary network of cancer researchers across UCLA and partner institutions, with access to JCCC shared resources, collaborative research programs, and cancer-focused scientific initiatives. Membership also reflects a commitment to contributing to the JCCC mission through research excellence, training, and service to the broader cancer research community.

This milestone recognizes Lena’s leadership and the lab’s growing contributions to immunity and cancer research. We look forward to the new collaborative opportunities this affiliation will bring and to continuing to advance our work within the JCCC community.

Please join us in congratulating Lena on this achievement!

Tim wins the Asrican Sophie & Jack Award

We are thrilled to announce that our PhD candidate, Tim, has been selected as a recipient of the Asrican Sophie & Jack Award from the UCLA Graduate Programs in Bioscience! This prestigious award supports PhD students conducting innovative research in cardiovascular science, spanning basic discovery to translational clinical applications, and recognizes dedication, creativity, and impactful contributions to the field.

Tim’s accomplishment not only reflects his outstanding scientific work, but also highlights the excellence of the research taking place in the Pernas Lab. Please join us in congratulating Tim on this well-deserved honor — we can’t wait to see where his work leads next!

Hannah and Sam got into the MIMG Path2 program!

We’re excited to announce that two of our undergraduate students, Hanna Riel and Sam Leistiko, have been accepted into UCLA’s MIMG Path-2 Program — a prestigious track that allows qualified undergraduates to carry out independent research under faculty mentorship while fulfilling their major’s research requirement.

Having two students join Path-2 is a win for our lab as well as for them. It means having dedicated, motivated undergraduates working more intensively and independently on meaningful projects, contribution to long-term research goals, with potential for poster presentations or co-authorship and of course extra hands for more continuity and focus on ongoing or new investigations.

Please join us in congratulating them on this achievement! We look forward to their growth and contributions in the lab under the Path-2 program.

🌟 Student Spotlight — Christian Aguirre

We’re proud to highlight Christian Aguirre, a fourth-year Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics major, whose undergraduate research journey was recently featured by the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center—Sciences!

Christian first connected with our lab after transferring to UCLA from community college and seeking research experience. He reached out to faculty, ultimately joining the Pernas Lab in October 2024 and quickly began learning essential laboratory skills. Christian’s independent project focuses on understanding how the protein glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) influences Toxoplasma gondii’s growth — exploring the role of lipid peroxides and ferroptosis mechanisms during infection.

Reflecting on his experience, Christian describes undergraduate research as “enriching, fun, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He emphasizes the supportive lab environment and credits his time in research with strengthening his desire to become a physician-scientist.

Christian also recently presented his work orally at the ABRCMS Conference, hosted by the American Society for Microbiology, marking a major step in his scientific communication and professional development. He prepared by practicing with lab members, polishing his slides with mentor feedback, and engaging deeply with the literature — all of which helped him make the most of the conference experience.

His story is a great example of how UCLA’s research opportunities and community support can empower students to grow as scientists and leaders. Please join us in congratulating Christian on his accomplishments and in celebrating his contributions to our lab and the broader research community! 🎉

Chahat’s PhD work got published in Nature Microbiology!

We are thrilled to announce that the amazong work of Chahat Mehra, a PhD student in the Pernas Lab, has just published in Nature Microbiology: “Toxoplasma effector TgROP1 establishes membrane contact sites with the endoplasmic reticulum during infection.”

Using a clever combination of a fluorescence-based membrane-contact reporter, CRISPR loss-of-function screening, imaging and proteomics, Chahat and her coauthors discovered that the parasite effector TgROP1 acts as a molecular tether — connecting the host endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the intracellular vacuole that contains Toxoplasma gondii.
This ER–parasite membrane contact site (MCS) provides a novel insight into how pathogens hijack host organelle interactions, and opens new avenues to understand infection biology — and potentially design therapies targeting these contact-site tethers.
Getting published in Nature Microbiology is a major milestone and reflects the rigor, creativity, and persistence behind the work.

Please join me in congratulating Chahat for this outstanding achievement! We look forward to seeing where this work leads and celebrating many more milestones together.

Sebastian Presents at SCEP 2025

We’re excited to share that Sebastian gave an excellent talk about how “Molecular mimicry enables mitochondria-Toxoplasma contact sites (MiToCs)” at the 2025 SCEP Symposium! The SCEP Symposium (Southern California Eukaryotic Pathogen Symposium) brings together scientists, trainees, and students from across the field to share cutting-edge research, build collaborations, and explore the latest advances in pathogen biology and host–pathogen interactions.

Congratulations to Sebastian for representing the Pernas Lab and for presenting his work at this important scientific meeting — we’re proud of your achievement and look forward to what’s next!

Congratulations to Sarah — Poster Award Winner at ABRCMS 2025!

We’re thrilled to announce that Sarah received a Poster Award at ABRCMS 2025 (Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students) that took place on November 19-22, 2025 in San Antonio, TEXAS. ABRCMS is one of the nation’s largest multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate research conferences, dedicated to promoting diversity and excellence in the biomedical sciences. Learn more about the conference here: https://abrcms.org/

Sarah’s poster stood out among a competitive field of young scientists, showcasing her dedication, rigor, and creativity. This recognition reflects both her hard work and the strength of the research happening in the Pernas Lab.

Please join us in congratulating Sarah on this well-deserved honor — we couldn’t be more proud!

Melissa is the Cover Art Winner at the 15th Annual SCEP Symposium

We are pleased to share that Melissa was selected as the Cover Art winner for the 15th Annual Southern California Eukaryotic Pathogen (SCEP) Symposium - UC Riverside School of Medicine.

Melissa’s artwork, titled “Host mitochondrial cristae remodeling at the T. gondii parasitophorous vacuole membrane” (also playfully referred to as “STED for SCEP”), was chosen from among the symposium submissions to be featured on the cover for this year’s abstract booklet — a recognition of both scientific relevance and visual clarity. fliphtml5.com

Please join us in congratulating Melissa on this achievement and for helping to represent the scientific community at SCEP through her creative and insightful work.