Who's writing, anyways?
it's me, Alex
Nice to meet you! My name is Alex Cloherty. I am an award-winning science communicator, I hold a PhD in immunology, and I am a passionate ambassador for the TOPX Network for women in life sciences. I love to talk about and teach science, and it has become my #1 hobby (alongside my loves for long-distance tandem cycling and sustainable fashion).
Microbial Mondays in its current form was born back when I was a Master student. One Monday night, I sat down after a day in the lab and thought, "Wouldn't it be awesome if more Mondays were microbial?" To answer my own question, yes, it is awesome. To this day, you can visit me here to read all about microbes, written in plain and understandable English.
If you're looking for somebody to host a workshop on science communication, give a jargon-free talk about microbes or immunology, submit a guest scicomm article, or moderate a popular science event, you've come to the right place. Reach out to me today to start discussing how I can support you!
PUBLICATIONS (from most to least recent)
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Rader AG, Cloherty APM, Patel KS, Almandawi DDA, Pajkrt D, Wolthers KC, Sridhar A, van Piggelen S, Baaij LE, Schreurs RRCE, Ribeiro CMS. HIV-1 exploits LBPA-dependent intraepithelial trafficking for productive infection of human intestinal mucosa (2024). PLoS Pathogens, 20(12). doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1012714
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Cloherty APM*, Rader AG*, Patel KS, Eisden TTHD, van Piggelen S, Schreurs RRCE, Ribeiro CMS. Dengue virus exploits autophagy vesicles and secretory pathways to promote transmission by human dendritic cells (2024). Frontiers in Immunology, 15. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2024.1260439
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Schreurs, RRCE, Koulis A, Booiman T, Boeser-Nunnink B, Cloherty APM, Rader AG, Patel KS, Kootstra N, Ribeiro CMS. Autophagy-enhancing ATG16L1 polymorphism is associated with improved clinical outcome and T-cell immunity in chronic HIV-1 infection (2024). Nature Communications 15(1), 2465. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46606-z.
Cloherty APM*, Rader AG*, Patel KS, Pérez-Vargas J, Thompson CAH, Ennis S, Niikura M, Wildenberg ME, Muncan V, Schreurs RRCE, Jean F, & Ribeiro CMS. Berbamine suppresses intestinal SARS-CoV-2 infection via a BNIP3-dependent autophagy blockade (2023). Emerging Microbes & Infections 12:1. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2023.2195020
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Kurtz D, Janke R, Barry J, Cloherty A, Shahram SZ, Jones, CA (2022). "Learning from “Our Relations” Indigenous Peoples of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and United States: A Review of Culturally Relevant Diabetes and Obesity Interventions for Health. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2022.13.1.14041
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Cloherty APM, Rader AG, Compeer B, Ribeiro CMS (2021). Human TRIM5α: Autophagy Connects Cell-Intrinsic HIV-1 Restriction and Innate Immune Sensor Functioning. Viruses, 13(2), 320. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13020320
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Cloherty APM, van Teijlingen NH, Eisden TJTHD et al. (2021). Autophagy-enhancing drugs limit mucosal HIV-1 acquisition and suppress viral replication ex vivo. Sci Rep 11, 4767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84081-4
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Cloherty APM, Olmstead AD, Ribeiro CMS, Jean F (2020). Hijacking of Lipid Droplets by Hepatitis C, Dengue and Zika Viruses—From Viral Protein Moonlighting to Extracellular Release. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(21), 7901. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21217901
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Hovingh ES, de Maat S, Cloherty A, Johnson S, Pinelli E, Maas C, & Jongerius I (2018). Virulence Associated Gene 8 of Bordetella pertussis Enhances Contact System Activity by Inhibiting the Regulatory Function of Complement Regulator C1 Inhibitor. Frontiers in immunology, 9, 1172. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01172
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Bottorff JL, Oliffe JL, Sarbit G, Kelly MT, & Cloherty A (2015). Men's Responses to Online Smoking Cessation Resources for New Fathers: The Influence of Masculinities. JMIR research protocols, 4(2), e54. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.4079​