In this first issue of Immunology as Editor-in-Chief, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself to our readers and scientists as an Editorial and discuss my vision for the future of Immunology going forward.

MY BACKGROUND

I was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a place of immense natural beauty but rather isolated. I developed much interest in the sciences and studied biomedical science at Western Michigan University for my undergraduate degree. There, I discovered laboratory research and made the decision to further my training in graduate school. In 2005, I began my doctoral study at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, working with Dr. Jonathan Powell. I have always been fascinated by immunoregulation: our immune system is extremely powerful, but it requires complex mechanisms to temper that exuberance. We became interested in understanding how metabolism plays a role in T-cell differentiation and uncovered a major role for the nutrient sensor mTOR in T-cell fate. I went on to further my training in immunoregulation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, taking on regulatory T cells in cancer, delineating new molecules and signalling pathways that stabilize their immunosuppressive function in the face of tumour inflammation.

Throughout my PhD and postdoctoral training, there were these rumblings of unprecedented responses to antibody blockade of co-inhibitory receptors in advanced cancers, and as I finished my postdoc, CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade were FDA approved. Thus, as I began my research group, my interest was in understanding resistance and response to these therapies, leveraging my background in immune metabolism and regulation. In 2014, I started my laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, where we try to uncover how the metabolism of various cells within tumours impacts immune fate and function. As cancer progresses, tumours become metabolically deregulated and this creates an altered nutrient environment, and we aim to both study the effects of that metabolic environment on immunity as well as design metabolic strategies to improve immunotherapy.

MY JOURNEY TO BECOME EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As a midcareer investigator, the editorial and publishing process at times remains nebulous to me. I decided to take this journey not only to learn the inner workings of a journal with a long history of solid mechanistic immunological science but also to hopefully identify ways to improve the publishing process for academic researchers, both at Immunology but also beyond. I was really excited to be appointed, and I think we can take the journal in exciting new directions.

I’ve been acting EIC for the last few months, and I’m extremely grateful to be working with the exceptional editorial staff at Wiley, as well as my team of Associate Editors: Florent Ginhoux, Francisco Quintana, Betsy Barnes, Tullia Bruno, Jing He, and Salome Pinho.

MY STRATEGIC VISION FOR IMMUNOLOGY

What I find particularly exciting is that while the COVID-19 pandemic has remarkably changed all of our lives, it has also engendered a global interest in immunology. People not of any scientific background are discussing antigen tests, antibody titres, vaccines and T cells. Now more than ever, we need mechanistic understanding of immunity, in physiologically relevant contexts. Immunology is a fantastic place to do this, as this journal has a long history of strong mechanistic immunology. I also hope to highlight and focus on studies of the immunology of the tissues. Too often we immunologists relegate our study of immune function to the confines of a 96-well plate. But to guard against insults in vivo, immune cells are operating in complex tissue environments in which they are the minority, and face all manner of new regulatory signals at that site. So I hope we’ll be seeing more work submitted in the coming months from the space of immunology within mucosal and barrier surfaces, non-immune organ systems, and in the transformed environment of cancer.

We also learning of novel modes of regulation by chemical modifications within immune cells: glycosylation and metabolite modification of signalling and nuclear proteins. The chemistry of immunology and how it intersects with the other features of immunoregulation is incredibly fascinating and I expect we will see this research highlighted at the journal.

But, above all, I want to create a home and safe space at Immunology for early career researchers (ECRs). Science is difficult, and the years after you start your laboratory are complex: excitement and stress, hope and concern. My experience as an ECR is that while your new laboratory is working on the development of what you hope will be a big high impact paper, you tend to generate lots of data along the way, much of which could stand on its own as a complete study. My vision is to create a place will give such studies a home in the immunology field and provide rapid peer review and solid editorial feedback at a journal that is well read and respected. I am working on ways to formalize this vision, so watch this space for more development in that regard.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

I’m very excited to be taking on this new journey as an Editor-in-Chief, and I’m honoured to work with such an accomplished editorial team and board. I look forward to continuing the trajectory of this journal, but also hopefully steering the ship in some new directions. Above all, I hope to continue to engage with all of you as authors, reviewers and, most importantly, readers of Immunology.