Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
@kailasanvanaja.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Immunology, Director of Immunology Graduate Program, UConn Health School of Medicine, Farmington, CT
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
Thanks to Autoimmunity podcast @kevinbonham.bsky.social & @woodrufflab.bsky.social for discussing our glycoRNA paper w/ @raflynn5.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social
In our latest episode, @woodrufflab.bsky.social and @kevinbonham.com talk about glycoRNAs, and the way they're shielded from the immune system in a new paper from the labs of @raflynn5.bsky.social and @vijayrathinam.bsky.social 🧪
audiommunity.org/episodes/epi...
audiommunity.org/episodes/epi...
Episode 47 - When you're a hammer
YouTube video by Audiommunity
www.youtube.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Thanks to Autoimmunity podcast @kevinbonham.bsky.social & @woodrufflab.bsky.social for discussing our glycoRNA paper w/ @raflynn5.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
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
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 ...
www.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:47 PM
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
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
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...
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.
ctmirror.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM
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...
ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
Check out this @nature.com paper from the brilliant scientist I get to call my husband!!!!
Hi everybody! I am super excited to share the work done during my PhD published in @nature today! We describe a new mechanism of self- vs. non-self RNA discrimination by showing how N-glycans shield glycoRNAs from stimulating endosomal RNA sensors www.nature.com/articles/s41...
RNA N-glycosylation enables immune evasion and homeostatic efferocytosis - Nature
N-glycans on glycoRNAs prevent innate immune sensing of endogenous small RNAs, and the natural mechanism they use demonstrates how glycoRNAs exist on the cell surface and in the endosomal network with...
www.nature.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Check out this @nature.com paper from the brilliant scientist I get to call my husband!!!!
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
August 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
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
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
August 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM
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...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
www.cell.com/cell-reports... #innate_immunity #inflammasome #celldeath #immunoSky 1/2
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...
www.cell.com
July 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
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
www.cell.com/cell-reports... #innate_immunity #inflammasome #celldeath #immunoSky 1/2
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
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...
www.cell.com
April 25, 2025 at 7:12 PM
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...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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)
elifesciences.org
April 2, 2025 at 1:02 PM
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)
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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!
Our first recruit struggled initially to succeed in obtaining NIH funding. But her science was/is terrific and we bridged her along. She subsequent received an HHMI appointment, and then substantial NIH funding. She is now a member of the National Academy and is the current department director
25/n
25/n
March 9, 2025 at 4:14 PM
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!
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
Nature research paper: Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses
https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD
https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD
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.
go.nature.com
February 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Nature research paper: Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses
https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD
https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
2025 Study section tracking
docs.google.com
February 24, 2025 at 4:17 PM
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...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
www.congress.gov
February 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
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...
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
Graduate Reductions Across Biomedical Sciences (2025)
docs.google.com
February 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
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...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
ⓕⓛⓨⓘⓝⓖ ⓔⓜⓑⓔⓡⓢ
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
ⓘⓝ ⓐ ⓦⓘⓛⓓⓕⓘⓡⓔ
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 🔥
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
ⓘⓝ ⓐ ⓦⓘⓛⓓⓕⓘⓡⓔ
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 🔥
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.
www.cell.com
January 26, 2025 at 12:57 PM
ⓕⓛⓨⓘⓝⓖ ⓔⓜⓑⓔⓡⓢ
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
ⓘⓝ ⓐ ⓦⓘⓛⓓⓕⓘⓡⓔ
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 🔥
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
ⓘⓝ ⓐ ⓦⓘⓛⓓⓕⓘⓡⓔ
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 🔥
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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/
HOME | ZanoniLaboratory
Welcome to Zanoni Laboratory! We unravel inflammatory networks to understand homeostasis and fight inflammatory disorders
www.zanonilab.com
January 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM
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/
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
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 ...
www.cell.com
January 16, 2025 at 11:09 PM
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!
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
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
December 31, 2024 at 5:25 PM
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!
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
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
December 31, 2024 at 4:53 PM
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
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
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
December 31, 2024 at 4:39 PM
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
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
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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.
Multiple outbreaks (usually Shiga-toxin+ E. coli / STEC) have been traced back to commercial flour.
Baked, it's fine. Raw... not so much.
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...
www.nejm.org
December 8, 2024 at 12:49 AM
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.
Multiple outbreaks (usually Shiga-toxin+ E. coli / STEC) have been traced back to commercial flour.
Baked, it's fine. Raw... not so much.
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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!
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
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
November 21, 2024 at 12:55 AM
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!
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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...
www.nature.com
November 20, 2024 at 7:28 PM
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...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
November 20, 2024 at 1:10 PM
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
Reposted by Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja
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
#immunosky
#academicchatter
go.bsky.app/QqJ9AgB
November 16, 2024 at 10:10 PM
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
#immunosky
#academicchatter
go.bsky.app/QqJ9AgB