Finlay Slorach
@finlayslorach.bsky.social
PhD candidate in the Hornung Lab || Prev @Astrazeneca @GSK
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Well it's #fridaypaperclub, so I have a very special one just for @odedrechavi.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Transposable elements are vectors of recurrent transgenerational epigenetic inheritance
DNA methylation loss at transposable elements (TEs) can affect neighboring genes and be epigenetically inherited in plants, yet the determinants and importance of this additional system of inheritance...
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Well it's #fridaypaperclub, so I have a very special one just for @odedrechavi.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity
Antiviral immune systems diversify by integrating new genes into existing pathways, creating new mechanisms of viral resistance. We identified genes encoding a predicted nuclease paired with a trypsin...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
📣New preprint from IGI's Justin Eyquem and Alex Marson📣 Site-specific genome engineering of primary human natural killer cells for programmable anti-tumor function. Read here: https://ow.ly/x5k950XoACz
November 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
📣New preprint from IGI's Justin Eyquem and Alex Marson📣 Site-specific genome engineering of primary human natural killer cells for programmable anti-tumor function. Read here: https://ow.ly/x5k950XoACz
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
New work from Tahirov x Lim collaboration! @qixianghe.bsky.social from my lab contributed the cryo-EM structures for this work. We are excited to help explain how anti-HSV drugs work and to guide their future development.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@unmc.bsky.social @uwbiochem.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@unmc.bsky.social @uwbiochem.bsky.social
Structural basis of herpesvirus helicase-primase inhibition by pritelivir and amenamevir
Structural studies of HSV-1 helicase-primase revealed how pritelivir and amenamevir bind and block its helicase activity.
www.science.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:14 AM
New work from Tahirov x Lim collaboration! @qixianghe.bsky.social from my lab contributed the cryo-EM structures for this work. We are excited to help explain how anti-HSV drugs work and to guide their future development.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@unmc.bsky.social @uwbiochem.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@unmc.bsky.social @uwbiochem.bsky.social
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Short, noncoding YRNA can activate pathological variants of the innate sensor RIG-I, causing autoinflammation and #lupus nephritis in mouse models.
Learn more in #ScienceImmunology: https://scim.ag/43ewTiV
Learn more in #ScienceImmunology: https://scim.ag/43ewTiV
Local activation of mutant RIG-I by short noncoding Y-RNA in the kidney triggers lethal nephritis
Y-RNA activates RIG-I gain-of-function mutants in the kidney, causing lethal autoimmune diseases including lupus nephritis.
scim.ag
November 6, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Short, noncoding YRNA can activate pathological variants of the innate sensor RIG-I, causing autoinflammation and #lupus nephritis in mouse models.
Learn more in #ScienceImmunology: https://scim.ag/43ewTiV
Learn more in #ScienceImmunology: https://scim.ag/43ewTiV
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.03.685801v1
November 3, 2025 at 4:16 PM
A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.03.685801v1
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
An authoritative review on phagosome immunobiology by David Underhill and Kai Li. Highly recommend for anyone interested in innate immunity, antigen presentation, infection and host defense.
@cedarssinai.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eNIFY
@cedarssinai.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eNIFY
Phagocytosis: a process that shapes immune responses to engulfed meals
Nature Reviews Immunology - In this Review, Li and Underhill discuss recent advances in understanding the process of phagocytosis. The authors highlight how phagocytosis is integral for innate...
rdcu.be
October 31, 2025 at 7:22 PM
An authoritative review on phagosome immunobiology by David Underhill and Kai Li. Highly recommend for anyone interested in innate immunity, antigen presentation, infection and host defense.
@cedarssinai.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eNIFY
@cedarssinai.bsky.social
rdcu.be/eNIFY
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Antiviral Defence is a Conserved Function of Diverse DNA Glycosylases https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.29.685425v1
October 30, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Antiviral Defence is a Conserved Function of Diverse DNA Glycosylases https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.29.685425v1
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
What happens to our immune system with aging, reducing vaccine response?
Our memory T cells undergo a dramatic shift resulting in dysregulated B cell antibody production
@alleninstitute.org @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Our memory T cells undergo a dramatic shift resulting in dysregulated B cell antibody production
@alleninstitute.org @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Multi-omic profiling reveals age-related immune dynamics in healthy adults - Nature
This multi-omic longitudinal analysis of the healthy human peripheral immune system constructs the Human Immune Health Atlas and assembles data on immune cell composition and state changes w...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:10 PM
What happens to our immune system with aging, reducing vaccine response?
Our memory T cells undergo a dramatic shift resulting in dysregulated B cell antibody production
@alleninstitute.org @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Our memory T cells undergo a dramatic shift resulting in dysregulated B cell antibody production
@alleninstitute.org @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
What do the naked mole rat and bowhead whale (lives to ~200 years) have in common to explain their remarkable longevity?
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...
Evidence for improved DNA repair in long-lived bowhead whale - Nature
Analysis of the longest-lived mammal, the bowhead whale, reveals an improved ability to repair DNA breaks, mediated by high levels of cold-inducible RNA-binding protein. &nbs...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:26 PM
What do the naked mole rat and bowhead whale (lives to ~200 years) have in common to explain their remarkable longevity?
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...
Enhanced DNA repair
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
erictopol.substack.com/p/a-long-awa...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
#Medssky🧪 #IDsky #immunosky #Publichealth The innate immune system plays a pivotal role in pathogen defense via pattern recognition receptor sensing, initiating responses upon infection or vaccination.
Immuno-functionomics reveals geographical variation and a role for TLR8 in mRNA vaccine responses
The innate immune system plays a pivotal role in pathogen defense via pattern recognition receptor sensing, initiating responses upon infection or vac…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:14 AM
#Medssky🧪 #IDsky #immunosky #Publichealth The innate immune system plays a pivotal role in pathogen defense via pattern recognition receptor sensing, initiating responses upon infection or vaccination.
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
We've been doing some amazing stuff outside the astrocyte realm.
Check out our latest Oligo investigation led by @pryprk.bsky.social !
Check out our latest Oligo investigation led by @pryprk.bsky.social !
I am proud to share our work on X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism — a rare neurodegenerative movement disorder driven by a SINE-VNTR-Alu retrotransposon insertion in the TAF1 gene.
Read our two companion papers:
🔹 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🔹 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 Highlights below!
Read our two companion papers:
🔹 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🔹 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 Highlights below!
October 24, 2025 at 4:40 PM
We've been doing some amazing stuff outside the astrocyte realm.
Check out our latest Oligo investigation led by @pryprk.bsky.social !
Check out our latest Oligo investigation led by @pryprk.bsky.social !
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Transcriptional interferences ensure one olfactory receptor per ant neuron
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Caviar for RNA-Seq nerds! Check this out
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Caviar for RNA-Seq nerds! Check this out
October 22, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Transcriptional interferences ensure one olfactory receptor per ant neuron
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Caviar for RNA-Seq nerds! Check this out
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Caviar for RNA-Seq nerds! Check this out
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
new preprint from our group & Antoine Hocher: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A fantastic collaboration with Antoine, with Jovana Kaljevic' initiated the collaboration and drives the project.
A fantastic collaboration with Antoine, with Jovana Kaljevic' initiated the collaboration and drives the project.
Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation
Nucleotide triphosphate (NTP)-dependent molecular switches regulate essential cellular processes by cycling between active and inactive states through nucleotide binding and hydrolysis. These mechanis...
www.biorxiv.org
October 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
new preprint from our group & Antoine Hocher: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A fantastic collaboration with Antoine, with Jovana Kaljevic' initiated the collaboration and drives the project.
A fantastic collaboration with Antoine, with Jovana Kaljevic' initiated the collaboration and drives the project.
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
A DNA repair function in a cytosolic sensor demonstrates a potential role in naked mole-rat longevity
@science.org
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
@science.org
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Longevity steps on the cGAS
A DNA repair function in a cytosolic sensor demonstrates a potential role in naked mole-rat longevity
science.org
October 9, 2025 at 9:18 PM
A DNA repair function in a cytosolic sensor demonstrates a potential role in naked mole-rat longevity
@science.org
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
@science.org
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Viral AlphaFold Database (VAD) is live in Science Advances
~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers
Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses
New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered
Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers
Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses
New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered
Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The Viral AlphaFold Database of monomers and homodimers reveals conserved protein folds in viruses of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes
VAD is a Viral AlphaFold Database of protein monomers and homodimers from viruses infecting hosts across the tree of life.
www.science.org
October 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Viral AlphaFold Database (VAD) is live in Science Advances
~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers
Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses
New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered
Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers
Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses
New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered
Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Check out this new thermo-hot paper from the @colllab.bsky.social Lab. Glad to contribute and work with her team.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
NLRP3 is a thermosensor that is negatively regulated by high temperature
Inflammation is an essential response to infection and injury, but unregulated inflammation is damaging and must be limited by negative feedback signalling. Inflammasome signalling drives local inflam...
www.biorxiv.org
October 1, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Check out this new thermo-hot paper from the @colllab.bsky.social Lab. Glad to contribute and work with her team.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
🚀 Excited to share scPortrait! Led by Sophia Mädler & Niklas Schmacke w/ the Mann lab — a new @scverse tool for standardized single-cell image data. Enables ML-ready extraction, >1B cell processing, cross-omics, & cancer macrophage insights.
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
🚀 Excited to share scPortrait! Led by Sophia Mädler & Niklas Schmacke w/ the Mann lab — a new @scverse tool for standardized single-cell image data. Enables ML-ready extraction, >1B cell processing, cross-omics, & cancer macrophage insights.
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
I beg of you please, please please stop using PAML, it ignores synonymous rate variation across sites and multi-nucleotide mutations. The results of your selection tests will be uninterpretable; use HyPhy instead…
🧬 💻 🧪
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
🧬 💻 🧪
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Synonymous Site-to-Site Substitution Rate Variation Dramatically Inflates False Positive Rates of Selection Analyses: Ignore at Your Own Peril
Abstract. Most molecular evolutionary studies of natural selection maintain the decades-old assumption that synonymous substitution rate variation (SRV) ac
academic.oup.com
September 21, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I beg of you please, please please stop using PAML, it ignores synonymous rate variation across sites and multi-nucleotide mutations. The results of your selection tests will be uninterpretable; use HyPhy instead…
🧬 💻 🧪
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
🧬 💻 🧪
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Sometimes you meet absolutely incredible bioinfo-magicians.
It was a huge privilege when @shenwei356.bsky.social
joined our group for a year on an @embl.org sabbatical.
While here, he developed a new way of aligning to
millions of bacteria, called LexicMap 1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It was a huge privilege when @shenwei356.bsky.social
joined our group for a year on an @embl.org sabbatical.
While here, he developed a new way of aligning to
millions of bacteria, called LexicMap 1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Efficient sequence alignment against millions of prokaryotic genomes with LexicMap - Nature Biotechnology
LexicMap uses a fixed set of probes to efficiently query gene sequences for fast and low-memory alignment.
www.nature.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Sometimes you meet absolutely incredible bioinfo-magicians.
It was a huge privilege when @shenwei356.bsky.social
joined our group for a year on an @embl.org sabbatical.
While here, he developed a new way of aligning to
millions of bacteria, called LexicMap 1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It was a huge privilege when @shenwei356.bsky.social
joined our group for a year on an @embl.org sabbatical.
While here, he developed a new way of aligning to
millions of bacteria, called LexicMap 1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
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.
Commensal yeast promotes Salmonella Typhimurium virulence - Nature
Commensal Candida albicans enhances the virulence and dissemination of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium.
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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.
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Preprint: De-novo design of proteins that inhibit bacterial defenses
Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications
Congrats Jeremy Garb!
tinyurl.com/Syttt
🧵
Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications
Congrats Jeremy Garb!
tinyurl.com/Syttt
🧵
Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection
Bacterial defense systems present considerable barriers to both phage infection and plasmid transformation. These systems target mobile genetic elements, limiting the efficacy of bacteriophage-based t...
www.biorxiv.org
September 2, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Preprint: De-novo design of proteins that inhibit bacterial defenses
Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications
Congrats Jeremy Garb!
tinyurl.com/Syttt
🧵
Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications
Congrats Jeremy Garb!
tinyurl.com/Syttt
🧵
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Happy to share our work on the structure and function of the unusual E3 ligase ZNFX1 @cp-cell.bsky.social. It uses a nucleic acid-activated transthiolation mechanism, ubiquitinating and clustering RNA to protect cells in an immune response. @clausenlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
A split-site E3 ligase mechanism enables ZNFX1 to ubiquitinate and cluster single-stranded RNA into ubiquitin-coated nucleoprotein particles
Grabarczyk et al. show the structure and mechanism of a non-canonical ubiquitin ligase,
which is activated through nucleic-acid-induced oligomerization and is critical for
cell survival during immune ...
www.cell.com
August 27, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Happy to share our work on the structure and function of the unusual E3 ligase ZNFX1 @cp-cell.bsky.social. It uses a nucleic acid-activated transthiolation mechanism, ubiquitinating and clustering RNA to protect cells in an immune response. @clausenlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Finlay Slorach
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) long non-coding RNA RNA4.9 counteracts nuclear cGAS to facilitate immune evasion @natmicrobiol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Human cytomegalovirus long non-coding RNA counteracts nuclear cGAS to facilitate immune evasion - Nature Microbiology
The authors identify a human cytomegalovirus long non-coding RNA, RNA4.9, that interacts with cGAS and prevents its activation in the nucleus, thereby suppressing virus-induced IFN expression and anti...
www.nature.com
August 8, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) long non-coding RNA RNA4.9 counteracts nuclear cGAS to facilitate immune evasion @natmicrobiol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...