The Gilmore Lab published a journal article in Nature’s Communications Biology titled “Starvation decreases immunity and immune regulatory factor NF-kB in the Starlet Sea Anemone Nematostella vectensis.” This study was in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Davies and Dr. Trevor Siggers.
Ph.D. student Joshua Aguirre Carrión led this investigation with the support of undergraduate Niharika Desai.
Nutrition is one of the many factors that determine the immunological condition of an organism. However, the interplay between nutrition and immunity has been understudied in early diverging lineages of invertebrates, such as the phylum Cnidaria. Sea anemone Nematostella vectensis (Nv) is a cnidarian with remarkable adaptability to adjust physiological status based on nutritional intake and availability. The immune system is metabolically expensive and subject to complex regulation. The relationship between nutrition and immunity in Nv remains largely unexplored. The study found that starvation increases the susceptibility of sea anemone polyps to bacterial infection, and NF-kB transcript and protein are reduced in starved anemones.
To read the full article, please click here.
Dr. Aguirre Carrión is now a scientist at Generate Biomedicines in Cambridge, MA. In Fall 2023, Ms. Desai will attend the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
