Out today in Nature - our collaborative work with Ryan Flynn's lab, led by Dr. Peiyuan Chai with support from Dr. @sinakheiri.bsky.social and @shahjess.bsky.social from our group. Exciting findings showcasing how glycoRNAs can modulate angiogenesis!

New #glycotime discovery from @raflynn5.bsky.social’s lab @bostonchildrens.bsky.social @harvard.edu, cell surface glycoRNA-RBP complexes organized by heparan sulfate PG nanoclusters that modulate VEGF signaling www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Science update from my postdoc Peiyuan Chai - his work “glycoRNA complexed with heparan sulfate regulates VEGF-A signaling” is now published @nature.com uncovering a new layer or glycoRNA-regulation of growth factor mediated control physiological processes rdcu.be/e1bBX

A new function for GlycoRNAs!! The GlycoRNA-Heparan sulfate complex on the cell surface controls VEGF-A signaling and angiogenesis. Superexciting findings from Ryan Flynn's lab. Congratulations to all authors!! @raflynn5.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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...

Shiga toxin-induced human cell death—the underlying cause of potentially lethal renal disease in children—occurs via pyroptosis, not apoptosis as previously thought, and is driven by an intriguing NLRP1–>Caspase-8–>Caspase-3–>gasdermin E pathway. Congrats to Priya's lab! @kailasanvanaja.bsky.social

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/...

Yet another fantastic discovery surrounding cell surface RNAs and cellular function. Congrats @raflynn5.bsky.social and colleagues!

💥New paper alert!💥 What’s better than starting 2026 with an @annualreviews.bsky.social #Immunology, often a once-in-a-life honor ❤️?! Check it out if you want to know everything about type III interferons #IFN! Thanks to my wonderful team for their amazing work 🤗 doi.org/10.1146/annu...

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/...

Pleased to share our review l. Thank you @payalyokota.bsky.social

#ToPrimeOrNotToPrime, this is the question! Excited for our new review @cp-trendsimmuno.bsky.social with @oceanedufies.bsky.social in which we discuss what is “priming” for the #NLRP3 #inflammasome & how we can harness this knowledge to better control human diseases! #InflammasomePower! #Free 👇👇👇

New story from the lab by PhD student Seb Grant. Started as a summer project and developed into an interesting story. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Delighted that this study is finally out @embojournal.org. A detailed analysis of how DNGR-1/CLEC9A signals to promote cross-presentation of dead cell-associated antigens yet does not activate dendritic cells. www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

🚨Thrilled to share our latest work, published online today @nature.com in which we decipher mechanisms underlying the enigmatic VEXAS syndrome - a huge team effort @mskcancercenter.bsky.social led by superstars Varun Narendra + @tandriladas.bsky.social 1/ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out our latest work led by two talented postdocs, Madhura @mkulkarni.bsky.social and Chris. We find that CASP4/5 can cleave and activate CASP3/7, acting as initiators of both pyroptosis and apoptosis. Notably, both are needed for full pathogen defense! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#InflammasomePower! 💥New paper alert💥 How is NLPR3 primed & activated in chronic non-communicable inflammatory diseases? With @oceanedufies.bsky.social &co we show that chronic exposure to oxPAPC drives NRF2 activation that primes & activates NLRP3 sustaining #atherosclerosis in mice & humans! 👇👇👇

Thanks for the discussion - fun to hear how it’s read!

Did you know that there are small RNAs embedded in the plasma membrane of your cells? I didn't! But your immune system sure does! New episode of @audiommunity.org out now! 🧪 audiommunity.org/episodes/epi...

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

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

Sugar coats shield immunogenic RNA modification:A new function for RNA glycosylation

@cellcellpress.bsky.social spotlight Sugar coats shield immunogenic RNA modification:A new function for RNA glycosylation www.cell.com/molecular-ce... on @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... @vijayrathinam.bsky.social

Sugar coats shield immunogenic RNA modification:A new function for RNA glycosylation: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce... @raflynn5.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social

Delighted to celebrate @cincyresearch.bsky.social @labwaggoner.bsky.social PhD student Eshana Mukhopadhyay on her Cutting Edge manuscript out today in @jimmunol.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jimmunol/adv...

We’re excited to report work led by postdoc Jennifer Porat in the lab, finding that DNA accumulates on the surface of living cells and that the secreted extracellular protein DNASE1L3 can modulate its levels on B and T cells. With a new twist for ATAC-seq as well www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

📢A new effector-triggered immunity role for GBP1! No place for pathogens to hide now that GBP1 can detect extracellular pathogens that hijack the actin cytoskeleton. Surprise*suprise* GBP1 does this independently of LPS! 🧵 biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Pleased to share and briefly highlight our new manuscript just published 𝘑𝘊𝘐 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 (a short🧵) "A STING-adjuvanted outer membrane vesicle nanoparticle vaccine protects against lethal 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢 pneumonia" 🔗 doi.org/10.1172/jci....

An NLRP3 stimulatory universal influenza vaccine. We report an NLRP3 stimulus that generates hyperactive dendritic cells (hDCs). journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.

So excited that this study is now online! It's been a pleasure to work with BioAge Labs and our collaborators on this story. We characterise a new class of #NLRP3 inhibitors with translational potential for so many inflammatory diseases.

#InterferonPower! Thrilled for our latest work @cp-cell.bsky.social! With @danielboehmer.bsky.social, we dug into tons of papers & created what we hope will be a go-to resource for immunologists & non-immunologist about type I, II, III (& IV😉) #interferons! Free👉 authors.elsevier.com/a/1leKGL7PXu...

Another piece of the #glycoRNA puzzle revealed by @raflynn5.bsky.social and @vijayrathinam.bsky.social!! RNAs with modified base acp3U activate TLR3/7, but not when acp3U is N-glycosylated. This is how cell surface/secreted glycoRNAs avoid stimulating autoimmunity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#GlycoPower! @vijayrathinam.bsky.social @raflynn5.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social &co show @nature.com that N-glycosylation of host small-RNAs present at cell surface prevents immune recognition by TLR3 and TLR7 upon apoptotic cells uptake avoiding autoinflammation!

@vijayrathinam.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social ‪@raflynn5.bsky.social‬ discovers why RNA undergoes glycosylation: N-glycans on glycoRNAs hide self-RNA from endosomal TLRs promoting ‘silent’ clearance of dead cells @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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

today.uconn.edu/2025/08/swee... Thanks to @uconnresearch.bsky.social and @kimkrieger.bsky.social for covering our glycoRNA paper @vinnieviruses.bsky.social @raflynn5.bsky.social

The work brought together a lot of expertise from labs including Penghua Wang, Michael R. Wilson, Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja, Beiyan Zhou, Franck J. Barrat, and Thomas Carell - and we were critically supported by grants from NIH (NIGMS, NIAID, NIDDK) and scleroderma research foundation

Finally, we found that the de-N-glycosylated RNA is sensed through both TLR3 and TLR7 which could suggest that encoding both ssRNA and dsRNA motifs with acp3U and thus dual engagement of TLR3 and TLR7 provide sufficient signal threshold.

We defined the chemical moiety causing this stimulation to be the core RNA modification of acp3U, which we had previously found to be a covalent linker between RNA and N-glycans (Xie et al. Cell 2024). We confirmed this with chemical synthesis RNAs containing only 1 acp3U.

This effect was also true on the surface of apoptotic material which is normally cleared via efferocytosis in an immune silent process. Loss of N-glycans on this material triggers innate immune cells.

We found that de-N-glycosylation of purified small RNA using PNGaseF causes the RNA to be immunostimulatory to both mouse and human macrophages

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...

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

A few weeks late, but delighted to announce I'm an editor at Infection and Immunity! Send your manuscripts to this @ASM.org society journal - proceeds go back to our community. And free immediate #OpenAccess through #SubscribeToOpen. Want to know more? journals.asm.org/S2O

A new function for an ancient innate immune stimulus. Zanoni et al report that oxidized lipids control IL-10 expression, impacting host defense and disease. Kudos to the authors on this important discovery www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#EpigeneticPower! 💥 #NewPaperAlert! We show @cp-immunity.bsky.social that endogenous oxidized lipids decide whether host survives or dies during #sepsis, #ARDS, or Staph infection! Ox lipids bind & inhibit #AKT, boosting inhibitory H3K27 methylation via EZH2 & blocking #IL10!

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

Happy that our manuscript showing that PgtE protease enables Salmonella to evade C3-mediated serum and neutrophil killing is published in mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... - check out the companion paper from @rtsolis.bsky.social and team, focused on PgtE in the African Salmonella strain ST313

I am very excited to share the second paper of my PhD published in @cp-cell.bsky.social. Many thanks to all co-authors, especially from Thomas Carell's group, and my supervisor @v-hornung.bsky.social for their great support and collaboration! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...