Congratulations to Dr. Kepeng Wang on receiving an NIH R01 grant through the National Cancer Institute entitled: “Controlling tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cell function by the IL-17-Ybx1 signaling pathway”. Dr. Anthony Vella will serve as Co-Investigator on the grant.

Congratulations to Dr. Vijay Rathinam on receiving an NIH R01 grant through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled, “GlycoRNA control of immune homeostasis”. Dr. Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja will serve as Co-Investigator on the grant.

Congratulations to Dr. Kepeng Wang  on receiving an NIH R01 grant through the National Cancer Institute entitled, “A novel “cap-linker” strategy to target oncolytic viruses to the tumor”.

The University of Connecticut held  Commencement ceremonies to honor the Class of 2026.   For more photos from the day, click here

Congratulations to Dr. Kai Li on receiving an NIH R35 grant through the National Institute of General Medical Science entitled, “Investigating Dead Cell-Phagocyte Interaction at the Phagosomal Interface to Decode Death-Associated Responses”

Congratulations to Dr. Penghua Wang on receiving an NIH R01 grant through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled, “The role of unanchored ubiquitin chains in non-canonical inflammasome signaling”. Immunology faculty members Dr. Jianbin Ruan and Dr. Vella will serve as Co-Investigators

Congratulations Dr. Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja for having a paper from her lab, “Redefining Shiga toxin–induced human cell death as NLRP1- and gasdermin E-mediated pyroptosis” published in the journal PNAS. The paper, first-authored by Dr. Rafael Ricci-Azevedo, a former postdoc in the Vanaja lab, identified the precise mechanism by which Shiga toxin, the leading cause of pediatric hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) worldwide, kills human cells.

Jason Cahoon (P. Wang Lab), Aadrita Hazra (Vanaja Lab), Eileen Theune (K. Wang Lab), and William Theune (K. Wang Lab) were selected to receive the AAI Trainee Abstract Award and were invited to give oral presentations at the Block Symposiums at IMMUNOLOGY2025^TM in Honolulu, HI.

The 50th Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) annual dinner was held at the University of Connecticut in Storrs on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. Recent inductee Dr. Vijay Rathinam was recognized. In attendance were member Dr. Beiyan Zhou, Dr. Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja, member Dr. Anthony Vella and member Dr. Bruce Liang.

Congratulations to Dr. Vijay Rathinam on his election to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE). Members are elected by the current membership on the basis of their accomplishments in science, engineering and/or technology.