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Erik Van Dis

@erikvandis

Immunologist and Damon Runyon fellow in the Stetson lab at UW, interested in innate immunity and cell death. Previously at Berkeley, Carleton College and Rocky Mountain Labs

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11.11.2024
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Latest posts by Erik Van Dis @erikvandis

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Phosphoinositide and cholesterol are endogenous ligands of STING in innate immune signaling @nature.com @upittpress.bsky.social @utswim.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

04.02.2026 19:55 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thrilled to share our new preprint showing that dietary amino acids license the NLRP3 inflammasome via mTOR-dependent mRNA translation! Congrats to co-1st authors @mikelhaggadone.bsky.social, Brian Goldspiel, co-senior author @metabailism.bsky.social & collaborators! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

21.01.2026 17:01 πŸ‘ 50 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

The stoichiometry of minor-to-major pilins regulates the dynamic activity of the type IVa competence pilus in Vibrio cholerae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.17.700090v1

19.01.2026 02:16 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

PtdIns(3,5)P2 Is an Endogenous Ligand of STING in Innate Immune Signaling https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.29.696917v1

30.12.2025 05:45 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Antibody-lectin chimeras for glyco-immune checkpoint blockade - Nature Biotechnology Cancer immunotherapy benefits from antibody-lectin chimeras that block glyco-immune checkpoints.

Antibody-lectin chimeras for glyco-immune checkpoint blockade - @jcstark.bsky.social @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social go.nature.com/4aRDpk8

16.12.2025 15:40 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2

kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

03.12.2025 19:09 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Offit told me that Kennedy is a "liar" and a
"terrible human being." I asked him to explain. "It doesn't matter what I say," Offit said. "He thinks the medical journals are in the pocket of the industry, he thinks that the government is in the pocket of the industry, he thinks I'm in the pocket of industry, and he's wrong." Offit continued: "If he has data showing he's right, then fucking publish it. He can't, because he doesn't have those data."
I asked Offit if he saw a way to reverse the public's rising distrust in science. "I don't think there is any way to regain that trust other than have the viruses do the education, and the bacteria do the education, and then people will realize they paid way too high a cost," he said.

Offit told me that Kennedy is a "liar" and a "terrible human being." I asked him to explain. "It doesn't matter what I say," Offit said. "He thinks the medical journals are in the pocket of the industry, he thinks that the government is in the pocket of the industry, he thinks I'm in the pocket of industry, and he's wrong." Offit continued: "If he has data showing he's right, then fucking publish it. He can't, because he doesn't have those data." I asked Offit if he saw a way to reverse the public's rising distrust in science. "I don't think there is any way to regain that trust other than have the viruses do the education, and the bacteria do the education, and then people will realize they paid way too high a cost," he said.

presented without comment

01.12.2025 02:28 πŸ‘ 3648 πŸ” 1071 πŸ’¬ 86 πŸ“Œ 158
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What will population immunity to SARS-CoV-2 look like in a post-vaccine world? An updated outlook (2025)

Five years of COVID taught us one thing: immunology didn’t fail, our public discourse did. My new Substack cuts through the noise with evidence, not ideology. If you want facts over fear, and science over spin, join here:

marcveldhoen.substac...
1/2

29.11.2025 12:01 πŸ‘ 154 πŸ” 39 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 5

What controls expansion & contraction of DNA repeats (e.g. Huntington's)? We were thrilled to collaborate w/ the lab of Marta Olejniczak to find out. Check out the cool screen from @sebasiegner.bsky.social and @matthiasmuhar.bsky.social that reads out repeat sequence. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

26.11.2025 08:09 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Innate immune and metabolic signals induce mitochondria-dependent membrane lysis via mitoxyperiosis Wang et al. identify a new lytic cell death pathway, mitoxyperilysis, triggered by the synergy of innate immune activation and metabolic stress. This process is regulated by mTORC2 and involves persis...

#NoTimeToDie! Welcome mitoxyperiosis! ⁦β€ͺKanneganti, Wang‬⁩ &co show ⁦β€ͺ@cp-cell.bsky.social that energy starvation via carbon deprivation in the presence of innate immune stimuli triggers a new form of cell death dependent on mitochondria-driven plasma membrane oxidative damage!

28.11.2025 16:56 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Health care in the USA: money has become the mission Despite extraordinary scientific and medical resources, the US health-care system underperforms. In this Review we consider the damage wrought by decades of market-based policies that have stimulated ...

My trainees are sick of me saying that we have the second worst health care system ever created. (The first being USA pre-Obamacare.) Here is a stellar summary of our many problems, where indeed money has become the mission.

28.11.2025 17:07 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Acute stress causes immediate hair follicle necrosis and hair loss via sympathetic nerves, which in turn activates and expand s autoreactive CD8 ⁺ T cells targeting hair follicles. Thus, a single stress event not only causes immediate tissue damage but also predisposes the tissue to future autoimmune attack.

Acute stress causes immediate hair follicle necrosis and hair loss via sympathetic nerves, which in turn activates and expand s autoreactive CD8 ⁺ T cells targeting hair follicles. Thus, a single stress event not only causes immediate tissue damage but also predisposes the tissue to future autoimmune attack.

"Stress-induced sympathetic hyperactivation drives hair follicle necrosis to trigger autoimmunity" spkl.io/63326Ad0f6

Ya-Chieh Hsu & colleagues
@cp-cell.bsky.social

26.11.2025 23:30 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Lymphotoxin alpha eradicates acute myeloid leukemia and simultaneously promotes healthy hematopoiesis in mice Lymphotoxin alpha represses acute myeloid leukemia by depleting TRAF2 and triggering cell death and myeloid differentiation.

β€˜Lymphotoxin alpha eradicates acute myeloid leukemia and simultaneously promotes healthy hematopoiesis in mice’

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

26.11.2025 22:44 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Annndddd it’s out! Here’s what came out of combining my virology background with the @brozlab.bsky.social’s cell death focus : a novel role for the cell death protein ninj1 during hsv1 infection. In brief, Ninj1 on mouse macrophages results in lower infection rates and higher cytokine secretion.

20.11.2025 15:28 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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NINJ1 blocks HSV-1 entry into macrophages to impact viral replication and immunity | EMBO reports imageimageNINJ1 blocks HSV-1 entry into mouse macrophages independent of its role in cell death, resulting in greater secretion of pro inflammatory cytokines downstream of infection. Mouse macrophages lacking NINJ1 are more permissive to HSV-1 ...

November is a big month for the lab with *two* new papers by @ehartenian.bsky.social and @alexandraboegli.bsky.social ++ co authors now online.

www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

20.11.2025 15:14 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Dengue Virus NS1 Binds Ephrin B1 to Trigger Endothelial Dysfunction https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.19.689067v1

19.11.2025 23:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social Regulation of lipid metabolism is a primordial function of STING @igmm-montpel.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @nadinelaguette.bsky.social

19.11.2025 01:27 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students

β€œThe prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”

14.11.2025 01:03 πŸ‘ 591 πŸ” 308 πŸ’¬ 57 πŸ“Œ 276
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N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Health Policies Says She Is on Administrative Leave

NEW: Jenna Norton, an NIH employee who is openly critical of Trump & RFK Jr, has been put on "non-disciplinary" administrative leave. She says the administration is trying to "scare and silence me." An HHS official, asked to comment, called her a radical leftist.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

14.11.2025 02:56 πŸ‘ 372 πŸ” 163 πŸ’¬ 17 πŸ“Œ 15
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Termination of the integrated stress response Stress responses enable cells to detect, adapt to, and survive challenges. The benefit of these signaling pathways depends on their reversibility. The integrated stress response (ISR) is elicited by p...

Termination of the integrated stress response | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

13.11.2025 19:05 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.

It's *scientific publishing*.

We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.

Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...

Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy πŸ‘‡

12.11.2025 10:31 πŸ‘ 335 πŸ” 239 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 17
Single-cell analysis reveals cell death as driver of NLRP3-mediated secretion of IL-1Ξ² in human monocytes - Nature Immunology Lamkanfi, Shirasaki, Izawa and colleagues show that IL-1Ξ² release in human monocytes stimulated with lipopolysaccharide or carrying NLRP3 activatory mutations is mostly restricted to cells undergoing…

Interleukin-1Ξ² (IL-1Ξ²) is secreted primarily by dying monocytes rather than by live bystander monocytes, challenging established models.

#cryopyrin
#pyrin
#immunology
#science

buff.ly/2cBb3sk

11.11.2025 19:58 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Midwinter Conference of Immunologists The Midwinter Conference of Immunologists was founded in 1961 by a small group of Immunologists, among them Drs. Dan Campbell and Ray Owen. The goal of the Midwinter Conference is to provide a forum w...

Early registration deadline for midwconfimmunol.org
@midwinter-immun.bsky.social is this Friday!

11.11.2025 20:16 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Truncating RELA variants drive autoinflammation and autoimmunity by impairing the negative feedback control of NF-kB https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.09.687461v1

10.11.2025 21:17 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Can we improve peer review? We think we can! Check out an experiment I helped with as part of @solvingforsci.bsky.social 's mission to make science better.
And if you don't want to read the whole bioRxiv manuscript, here's an overview of the main findings:
solvingfor.org/news-posts-d...

05.11.2025 23:25 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Very cool work from my former mentor elucidating differential control of HIV by IFN alpha subtypes 🦠🧫🧬

04.11.2025 03:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Membrane integrity changes upon viral infection activate sphingomyelinase SMPDL3B to restrict cGAS-STING signaling via cGAMP degradation Wang et al. find that cell membrane stress upon viral infection induces expression and stabilization of host sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase acid-like 3B (SMPDL3B), which, in turn, degrades cGAMP to s...

Sphingolipid sensor degrades cGAMP to suppress antiviral host defense- #virus #lipids #hostdefense #innateImmunity
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

02.11.2025 18:52 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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#Cytokines2025 will kick off with two special symposia! Check in early, get your badges, to attend these sessions.

02.11.2025 17:19 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
The Telegraph Headline: New Covid virus found in wild Brazilian bats


Subhed: The discovery of a β€˜furin cleavage site’ suggests the mutation which helps the virus adapt to humans is naturally occurring

The Telegraph Headline: New Covid virus found in wild Brazilian bats Subhed: The discovery of a β€˜furin cleavage site’ suggests the mutation which helps the virus adapt to humans is naturally occurring

Sad day for the folks who staked their reputations on lab leak conspiracy theories.

www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

31.10.2025 15:51 πŸ‘ 4356 πŸ” 1378 πŸ’¬ 135 πŸ“Œ 91
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Super excited about first Shendure/Baker Lab collaboration & preprint on a multiplex sequencing-based strategy for screening de novo proteome editors in mammalian cells. Kudos to the brilliant Chase Suiter (not here) & @greenahn.bsky.social on the work! Preprint here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

14.10.2025 18:44 πŸ‘ 97 πŸ” 33 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0