Ali Gouch

@ubalubi.bsky.social

235 Followers 384 Following

A happy Ph.D. candidate - host immune responses to Plasmodium infection. Artist & coffee lover. Immunologist searching for academic postdoc opinions are my own bringing a Flow Cytometry vibe to the Western Blot function near you!

During blood-stage Plasmodium infection, the innate immune system recognizes infected red blood cells (iRBCs) and through antigen processing / presentation and cytokine production (such as IL-12 production from dendritic cells) stimulates multi-pronged T cell polarization. T follicular helper cells (Tfh) direct B cells' proliferation and production of high-affinity antibodies against iRBC antigens that aid opsonization. Absolutely required for host clearance of infection. T helper 1 (Th1) cells abundantly produce "pro-inflammatory" cytokines that promote parasite clearance. This must be regulated by the host to prevent immunopathology (but is also required for parasite clearance). Drawn in ProCreate (iPad) by me!
Title slide: Identifying antimicrobial effectors in the staphylococcal abscess. Eric. P. Skaar Ph.D. M.P.H. Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation (VI4). Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Daniel J. Drucker MD, FRCPC at UAMS Student Research Day 2026. Slide title: "GLP-1 medicines - new combinations to enhance efficacy"
Dunkleosteus statue with pretty native plants.
My water bottle and laptop on a desk outside. There's a fountain behind it and some trees. The Healing Garden.
A small crocodile fern on a desk, and a green mug with a red v60 pourover set brewing coffee. Bright hallway
Title: Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans Inter-Kingdom Interactions Presentation on a screen. Presented by Danielle A Garsin, Ph.D. Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at The University of Texas HSC Houston
Some magnet words are arranged on the lab freezer door to say "do not centrifuge your emotion"
A green mug with a red V60 pourover filtering coffee into it, sitting on a grassy and rocky mountainside. It's overcast and a little foggy, but the sunlight is peeking through the clouds in the background.
a self-portrait of me dressed as Commander Helper T cell from the anime series "Cells at Work!". Sitting in a chair with a latte in a green mug and wearing purple CD4 Hoka shoes. Top right: "Helper T Cell: Top left: "Pumpkin Chai Latte, Tea for a T cell" Bottom left: "Business as Usual (no TCR stim yet). Bottom Middle: "CD4+, What are those..."
latte in a black mug, ipad with a Cell Host & Microbe article downloaded, flowers in a vase, windows in the background looking upon downtown city streets = immaculate vibes
A selfie of me with 5 U-bottom 96-well plates across my arm like one of those money flex pics
I am always thrilled to look at this little bit of water in the foreground, with a tiny bit of dirt and rocks large enough to support the growth of a bush of some kind. Trees and long grasses behind it. I like rocks and water together. It's a good combo.
I'm holding up two books in front of a cute brick shop called Paper Hearts bookstore. The books are "Braiding Sweetgrass" and "The Serviceberry," both authored by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
A friggin' lot of strawberries.
A wanted poster for seaturtle sightings on a wooden post.
A small jumping spider on my arm. I put them on a nearby bush.
An article about generating bine marrow chimaëric mice on a sunlit table + my green peach tea in a white mug with a lighthouse on it + a sedum plant in a mason jar.
A wet asphalt-paved path leading off into the distance alongside a road. Green grass and leafless trees border both sides. The sun is low in the sky, slightly covered by rainclouds. It reflects off the wet pavement.
A hot latte with foam art in the shape of many hearts. + a drawing on my iPad of a person's legs without the shoes drawn in yet. Ugh.
selfie + several other nerds. Our views do not represent the views of our workplaces.
Rat Clenches Fist of Rage
my drawing, 4 dachshunds wandering about on a cobblestone road
A rose syrup latte with steamed milk art in a black mug on a wooden table. Two clay pots behind it.
A regular latte with steamed milk art in a black mug. The milk was poured in the shape of a flying swan. Behind it is my iPad, I'm starting to draw an icosahedron (just a circle, some triangles, and some trapezoids.
A latte with steamed milk art in a black mug on a white marbled table. Behind it is my iPad and a drawing of my interpretation of a macrophage (immune cell type, colored blue) with a vesicle full of Coxiella burnetii bacteria (colored red). The café is lit with an overcast morning glow.
In a café. A latte with steamed milk art in a black mug. Behind it on a wood table is my iPad open to a seminar presentation I'll give later. And a desk plant named Millie. The title of the presentation reads: "Malaria is the deadliest parasitic diseases in the world." The text reads (in bullet points): -caused by Plasmodium parasites. Spread by Anopheles mosquito vectors. -5 species infect humans (P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, P. knowlesi). -2023: threatens nearly half the global population. 263 million infections. 597,000 deaths. 76% of deaths are children under the age of 5. There is an image from the CDC - DPDx website of Plasmodium trophozoite-infected red blood cells in a thin blood smear on the slide.
An iPad Pro drawing on Procreate. It's a sketch of a black mouse with pink feet, ears, nose, and tail. There's a thought bubble with a question mark above its head. What is it thinking about?
A close-up of the drawing in the above post, featuring merozoites coming out of the RBC, as well as some trophozoites within RBCs in the background.
A drawing I made on my iPad Pro. It depicts a Xenomorph juvenile "chest-bursting" from a human red blood cell (RBC). Also emerging from the broken RBC are purple teardrop-shaped Plasmodium parasites. This stage of the parasite is called a "merozoite", which enters the circulation and quickly finds, attaches to, and enters a new red blood cell. One inside, the parasite will become a "ring-stage trophozoite," growing into a mature trophozoite after feeding on RBC globin. The trophozoite will become a "schizont," which undergoes a process of asexual reproduction called "schizogony" to produce more merozoites. The merozoites burst from the RBC, enter the circulation, and thus perpetuate the blood stage life cycle. I depicted this process with lineart in the red cloud above the Xenomorph's head. Behind the scene is a background of a Giemsa-stained thin blood smear slide under a light microscope. I frequently read slides like this in the laboratory. There are red blood cells infected with blood stage Plasmodium parasites. Above the Xenomorph is a title which reads "Plasm-ALIEN" in roughly the same font as the movies.
A long branch of a sedum succulent broke off of the main parent plant, lying sideways. Also on the table is a Pink Slush Alani Nu energy drink, and a mason jar containing the parent plant. The plant has many spiky leaves.
A handmade latte with steamed milk poured in the classic latte art shape of a swan.