Congratulations to Joseph C. Ayoob and Elane Fishilevich who received an NIH R21 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study the “Eat-Me Signaling Cascade in Apoptotic Cell Engulfment”. To prevent inflammation and autoimmunity, our bodies must remove more than a billion dying cells each day, since defects in the cell removal can upset homeostasis and cause autoimmune disorders and other diseases. By identifying new “eat-me” signals in dying cells, which trigger their engulfment and removal by phagocytic cells, the lab hopes to provide new targets for treatment and drug design.