Dr. Anusree Mahanta’s talk on linking immunity and development

We were pleased to host Dr. Anusree Mahanta, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Early Career Fellow at the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), Bengaluru, for a seminar titled “Decoding Immune-Developmental Crosstalk.”

In her talk, Dr. Mahanta her research on how larval macrophages in Drosophila respond to dietary sugar overload by undergoing metabolic reprogramming by enhancing glycolysis, and lipid metabolism. These immune-metabolic changes alter systemic growth regulation, resulting in reduced adult body size under high-sugar diet conditions. Her presentation provided a fascinating glimpse into the non-canonical roles of macrophages in metabolism, and development, and stimulated engaging discussions among faculty and students.