This was such a fun collaboration, with an amazing outcome. We helped the Vetere lab use a triple AAV strategy to deliver an optogenetic circuit allowing for the precise detection of which neurons are responsible for the formation and recall of a memory. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How does the brain build a memory? A common assumption is that the neurons activated during an experience collectively form the memory engram. In our new Nature Neuroscience paper (finally out!), we show that this is not the case. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations to now graduated PhD student Stephen Winston for leading this study on rAAV contaminants. This study shows that a mere 2 nucleotide modification to the (Rep78/68 driving) p5 promoter results in rAAV with equivalent titers but ~50-fold lower p5-derived contaminants. #genetherapy #AAV

Starting 2026 with a thread a very recent manuscripts at Ryan Lab @tcddublin.bsky.social @tbsi-tcd.bsky.social "Extinction and subsequent updating of innate fear responses to a visual looming stimulus rely on hippocampus-dependent mechanisms" journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... @PLOSBiology

Two complementary studies from our group out today: a therapeutic peptide vaccine trial for fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) & TIRTL-Seq, our robust method for deep quantitative paired TCR sequencing a🧵w/ @markyarchoan.bsky.social & @pogorely.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do we balance innate responses & adaptive learning when reacting to threats? @tjryan.bsky.social &co show that repeated exposure to looming stimuli reduces innate defensive responses via #hippocampal modulation, revealing a vCA1 engram needed for learned #fear @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4pNSnNp

So glad to see this story ready to share as a preprint. This was a really fun collaboration and a stunning finding with big potential implications. Congrats Iva!

Opposing effects of H2A.Z on memory, transcription and pathology in male and female Alzheimer's disease mice and patients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.28.656659v1

*You have a new citation, click here to view* Citing article: 'In contrast to a pointless 2024 study done by barely literate and grotesquely unattractive authors [12]'

Had an excellent meeting with staff from @slotkin.senate.gov about the importance of supporting robust funding for Biomedical research. @immunologyaai.bsky.social and the community appreciate your support #PPFPHillDay

Plasticity of visual looming response reveals a dissociation of innate and learned components https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.18.628938v1

Durable lymphocyte subset elimination upon a single dose of AAV-delivered depletion antibody dissects immune control of chronic viral infection @cp-immunity.bsky.social www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

An amazing collaboration to be a part of: We helped @gisellavetere.bsky.social & @clementpouget.bsky.social simultaneously deliver 3 AAV constructs to Ca1 neurons. What they then acheived blew me away - the tagging of cells recruited in memory encoding with a temporal resolution of mere seconds!

We keep improving TIRTL-seq, see the updated preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)! New additions include: a manual 96-well protocol, code and raw data now available, and successful in vitro validation of EBV and SARS-CoV-2 TCRs.

New starter pack for all people interested in Gene Editing & Gene Therapy 🧬✂️ including Tools & Delivery|CRISPR-Cas|Zinc finger nucleases|Viral vectors|Non-viral delivery methods go.bsky.app/8R4dVez

Glad to get the chance to write this commentary on a recent paper by Penaud Budloo et al that found miRNA contaminants within purified rAAV preparations. An interesting and unique AAV vector purity study

TCR repertoire dream: decoding immune status by sequencing TCRs. Problems: 1) Need paired TCRab 2) Interesting T cell clones are often VERY small. Our solution: TIRTL-seq 🐢Deep, quantitative, & affordable paired TCR repertoire sequencing🧵 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.09.16.613345v1

Not only is the alternative histone H2A.Z.1 involved in memory formation, this role is lysine acetylation dependent! Thrilled to have contributed to this great work from Iva Zovkic's lab