We are proud and happy to announce that Haobo Zhang has successfully defended his PhD thesis in our lab at the Department of Immunobiology of the University of Lausanne on March 6^th 2026. Haobo’s doctoral work focused on uncovering the molecular mechanisms behind SLC15A4/TASL-mediated activation of IRF5, providing important insights into this signaling pathway.

Left: Haobo Zhang receiving the PhD title from Thesis comittee President Prof Thierry Roger. Right: Manuele Rebsamen and Haobo Zhang.

We want to thank the thesis committee members Prof Thierry Roger, Prof Andrea Ablasser, Prof Fabio Martinon and Prof Margot Thome-Miazza for their time and dedication, as well as for the engaging discussions and insightful feedback throughout the evaluation.

The Rebsamen Lab warmly congratulates Haobo on this major achievement and wish him every success in the next steps of his scientific journey!

Left: Haobo Zhang with Prof Manuele Rebsamen and Thesis comittee members Prof Thierry Roger and Prof Fabio Martinon. Middle and Right: Celebrating with Dr Haobo Zhang!

To know more, check out these publications that are part of his thesis work (more to come…):

• SLC15A4 controls endolysosomal TLR7–9 responses by recruiting the innate immune adaptor TASL
• A conformation-locking inhibitor of SLC15A4 with TASL proteostatic anti-inflammatory activity