Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja

Excited to share our new study published @pnas.org! We found that Shiga toxin-induced human cell death, long believed to be apoptosis, is in fact pyroptosis mediated by NLRP1 & gasdermin E. Congrats to all the authors! @uconnhealth.bsky.social @uconnresearch.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

LPS-induced structural reorganization and polymerization drive noncanonical inflammasome activation LPS acylation patterns determine caspase-4/11 noncanonical inflammasome assembly and activation.

Structural features underlying LPS recognition by caspase-11/4 and the activation of the noncanonical inflammasome. Congrats to Chengliang Wang & Jianbin Ruan @uconnhealth.bsky.social Happy to contribute to this exciting paper! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thanks to Autoimmunity podcast @kevinbonham.bsky.social & @woodrufflab.bsky.social for discussing our glycoRNA paper w/ @raflynn5.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social

Enteropathogenic bacteria evade ROCK-driven epithelial cell extrusion - Nature The bacterial ubiquitin ligase NleL evades host defence mechanisms both by inhibiting pyroptosis and by preventing infected intestinal epithelial cells from being extruded into the lumen and expelled ...

Check out our new publication, a collaboration with Giovanni Luchetti and Vishva Dixit @ Genentech.
We show that the E.coli effector NleL inhibits intestinal epithelial cell extrusion after #inflammasome activation via degrading the kinases ROCK1 and 2!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Explainer 1/8

Opinion: This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors UConn currently lets every pregnant/expecting individual reinvent the wheel, cobbling together a leave plan with whatever resources and departmental grace they can muster.

My colleague @sarahhird.bsky.social has been fighting for family care leave for over a year now. So impressed with her leadership!

ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...

Check out this @nature.com paper from the brilliant scientist I get to call my husband!!!!

Why does RNA undergo glycosylation? Excited to have our paper out. We in collab w/ Ryan Flynn @raflynn5.bsky.social show N-glycans on glycoRNA hide self-RNA from endosomal TLRs promoting silent removal of dead cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @uconnresearch.bsky.social @uconnhealth.bsky.social

RNA N-glycosylation enables immune evasion and homeostatic efferocytosis by chemically caging acp3U. Excited to report this work lead by Vinnie @vinnieviruses.bsky.social and in collaboration with @vijayrathinam.bsky.social in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Endolysosomal damage surveillance enables rapid inflammasome sensing of pathogens Shivcharan et al. report that endosomal damage sensing by the danger receptor galectin-8 licenses noncanonical inflammasome activation and pyroptosis during intracellular bacterial infections in human...

We are excited to have our new paper out: Tethering of the pathogen sensor caspase-4 to the endomembrane damage sensor galectin-8 poises the host to rapidly detect pathogens that breach the endolysosomal network.
www.cell.com/cell-reports... #innate_immunity #inflammasome #celldeath #immunoSky 1/2

Nerve- and airway-associated interstitial macrophages mitigate SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis via type I interferon signaling The local immunoregulatory mechanisms that safeguard the host from excessive lung infection inflammation remain unclear. Yeung, Yokota et al. uncover the essential role of nerve- and airway-associated...

Type I interferon signaling in Nerve- and airway-associated interstitial macrophages mitigate SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Congratulations on this cool story to @khannakm.bsky.social @payalyokota.bsky.social @yeungadventures.bsky.social www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

Thrilled to share our @elife.bsky.social paper "Inflammasomes primarily restrict cytosolic Salmonella replication within human macrophages" by 1st author Dr. @marisaegan.bsky.social (@cambupenn.bsky.social alum, now faculty @swarthmorecollege.bsky.social)! elifesciences.org/articles/90107 🧵(1/n)

I was that woman! I have frequently told the story of how Jeremy responded after my second NIH rejection. He said, “Whatever you do, don’t stop spending. If you run out of startup, we’ll find more money for you.” I didn’t need it in the end, but knowing he had my back was huge. Thank you!

Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses - Nature Phagocytosed bacteria can serve as an alternative nutrient source for macrophages, influencing their metabolic and immune responses through the recycling of microbial components, with the process regulated by nutrient-sensing mechanisms and bacterial viability.

Nature research paper: Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses

https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD

2025 Study section tracking

Wondering if your study section cancelled? I update this sheet daily. As of today, 56/124 study sections that should have met since Jan 2, 2025 have "not met as scheduled." docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Everyone who ever got funding through NIAID should be aware of this bill and start sending messages to their US legislators. The bill intends to dissolve NIAID. This is Project 2025
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

Graduate Reductions Across Biomedical Sciences (2025)

I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Transplantation of gasdermin pores by extracellular vesicles propagates pyroptosis to bystander cells Expanding the consequences of pyroptosis, this study reveals that GSDMD pore-laden pyroptotic EVs transplant GSDMD pores on neighboring cell surfaces and propagate cell death to bystander cells.

ⓕⓛⓨⓘⓝⓖ ⓔⓜⓑⓔⓡⓢ
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
ⓘⓝ ⓐ ⓦⓘⓛⓓⓕⓘⓡⓔ

new concept in the propagation of inflammatory cell death in severe inflammation and sepsis

extracellular vesicles released from dying cells contain gasdermin pores that can subsequently attack and initiate rapid apoptosis in bystander cells

🔥 PyroEVs 🔥

HOME | ZanoniLaboratory Welcome to Zanoni Laboratory! We unravel inflammatory networks to understand homeostasis and fight inflammatory disorders

The www.zanonilab.com just turned 10-year-old today! 🎂🎉 I feel so grateful to my mentors & all the amazing friends & trainees that shared these years of passion, excitement, & hard work! In our job, every day is a new start, but let’s celebrate some of our achievements in… #10 posts! 1/

Plasticity of cell death pathways ensures GSDMD activation during Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection Injection of YopJ by Yersinia pseudotuberculosis triggers RIPK1-dependent caspase-8 and GSDMD activation in murine macrophages; however, how macrophages defend against Yersinia when caspase-8 or YopJ ...

Thrilled to start 2025 with our latest findings! Yersinia invades macrophage cytosol to activate caspase-11 when caspase-8 or YopJ are inactive. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

New paper from Vijay's @vijayrathinam.bsky.social lab! Congratulations to all the authors! It was great to be a collaborator on this exciting study!

Wooo! Congrats to all the authors! Skylar absolutely killed it with these critical experiments. It was such a privledge to watch this research be done in the @vijayrathinam.bsky.social and @kailasanvanaja.bsky.social lab

So excited to have our new paper out now!
Pyroptotic EVs “transplant” gasdermin pores from dying cells onto bystander cells, propagating pyroptosis and inflammation. t.co/XgU6jt15aF 1/3
#innate_immunity #immunoSky #celldeath #ExtracellularVesicles @uconnresearch.bsky.social

Shiga Toxin–Producing E. coli Infections Associated with Flour | NEJM In 2016, a multijurisdictional team investigated an outbreak of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroup O121 and O26 infections linked to contaminated flour from a large domestic pr...

Unless the flour you are using is heat-treated, it may contain very high levels of harmful bacteria.

Multiple outbreaks (usually Shiga-toxin+ E. coli / STEC) have been traced back to commercial flour.

Baked, it's fine. Raw... not so much.

Could you please add me too. Thanks!

Thrilled to share our latest collaborative study with @brodskyigorlab.bsky.social showing that TLR priming licenses murine NAIP/NLRC4 inflammasome activation by immunoevasive bacterial ligands! Congrats to postdocs James Grayczyk, Luying Liu, former grad student @marisaegan.bsky.social & co-authors!

Congratulations Andrew! Great to see in in print!

UBXN9 governs GLUT4-mediated spatial confinement of RIG-I-like receptors and signaling - Nature Immunology Wang and colleagues show that in skeletal muscle cells and cardiomyocytes, the glucose transporter GLUT4 is a negative regulator of RIG-I-like receptor signaling during viral infection by redistributi...

Hi everyone! New to Bluesky, but happy to share the final chapter of my PhD @uconnhealth.bsky.social out today in Nature Immunology! Here, we uncovered a noncanonical function of the glucose transporter GLUT4 in regulating RLR signaling in muscle and adipocytes
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our 1st paper post (skeet?) on 🦋: So excited and thankful to have this out! www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1.... This study was spearheaded by a fantastic former postdoc - James Grayczyk w/ much help from the talented Luying Liu who helped get it through the revision process and over the finish line

I’ve made a Starter Pack of #innateimmunity and #inflammation researchers to follow! Please contact me to get added or to suggest others to add. We are just getting started 😎
#immunosky
#academicchatter
go.bsky.app/QqJ9AgB

Could you please add me too. Thanks!