Congratulations to the Leeper lab and colleagues for publishing in the NEJM the first human evidence that promoting “efferocytosis” (the phagocytic removal of diseased and dying cells) may have a beneficial effect on atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Using PET/CT scans from an ongoing cancer trial, the investigators were able to retrospectively analyze vascular inflammation in the arteries of subjects before and after treatment with an anti-CD47 antibody. They found that blockade of this key so-called ‘don’t eat me’ molecule was associated with reduced inflammation in the carotid arteries. These findings are consistent with the groups previously published studies in mice (Nature, 2016), and may pave the way for prospective cardiovascular studies to determine if ‘macrophage checkpoint inhibition’ has the potential to become a new therapy to prevent heart attack and stroke. 

Congratulations to Alyssa Flores for having her article named a Top 10 manuscript for 2020 by Healthinnovations.

Bittersweet send off party for star post-doc, Ying Wang, as she completes her time at Stanford and prepares to start her tenure-track Assistant Professorship at the University of British Columbia.  We wish Ying all the best as she embarks on what we know will be an amazing career full of exciting discoveries!