Congratulations to Kristina Delgado for receiving the third-place poster presentation award at the 2024 Graduate Student Research Day.   Kristina’s project centers around the development of a vaccine against Treponema pallidum (Tp), the causative agent of syphilis.  Under the mentorship of Drs. Justin Radolf, Kelly Hawley, and Melissa Caimano, Kristina’s research focuses on identifying surface-exposed loops of Tp ß-barrel-forming outer membrane proteins (OMPs) to inform vaccine candidate selection.  Her use of long-term in vitro  cultivation of Tp allowed for the development of a GFP⁺ Tp strain, which enables precise tracking of bacterial infections with the immune system, significantly advancing the field’s ability to study spirochete-host dynamics and identify effective vaccinogens.

Congratulations to Vincent Graziano on the award of his NIH F31 fellowship grant through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled “Innate immune roles of glycoRNA”.  Vinnie is a PhD candidate in the Rathinam laboratory in the Department of Immunology.

Congratulations Dr. Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja and Ms. Skylar Wright for having their paper, “A bacterial toxin co-opts caspase-3 to disable active gasdermin D and limit macrophage pyroptosis”  published in the journal Cell Reports. The paper, first-authored by Ms. Skylar Wright, a graduate student, identified a novel molecular mechanism by which a clinically significant human pathogen, Enterohemorrhagic E. coli, utilizes its virulence factor, Shiga toxin, to effectively suppress host protective noncanonical inflammasome responses.

Congratulations to Dr. Penghua Wang and his laboratory for having their paper, “UBR5 promotes antiviral immunity by disengaging the transcriptional brake on RIG-I like receptors" published in the journal Nature Communications ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45141-1). This study screens 375 definite ubiquitin ligases and identifies that UBR5 promotes RIG-I like receptor transcription epigenetically and antiviral immunity.   Dr. Duomeng Yang is the first the author. Immunology Chairman Dr. Anthony Vella and Department of Medicine faculty member Dr. Yanlin Wang also contributed to this work.

Congratulations to Dr. Beiyan Zhou and Dr. Anthony Vella on the award of their NIH R01 grant through the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute entitled, “ASCVD risk assessment in T2DM facilitated by novel computational immunology programs”.

Congratulations to Dr. Vijay Rathinam and Dr. Puja Kumari for having their paper, 'Host extracellular vesicles confer cytosolic access to systemic LPS licensing non-canonical inflammasome sensing and pyroptosis’ published in the journal Nature Cell Biology. The paper first-authored by Dr. Puja Kumari, a postdoctoral fellow in the Rathinam lab, identified extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by host cells capture circulating bacterial ipopolysaccharide (LPS) and escort it to the cytosol of cells enabling non-canonical inflammasome sensing and cell death. The findings from this study provide insights into cytosolic immune surveillance of systemic microbial products.

Congratulations to Dr. Kepeng Wang for having his paper, “Cancer immunotherapy with enveloped self-amplifying mRNA CARG-2020 that modulates IL-12,  IL-17 and PD-L1 pathways to prevent tumor recurrence” published in Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (APSB). The paper describes a novel oncolytic viral therapy for cancers that incorporates payloads targeting IL-12, IL-17, and PD-L1 signaling. Successful eradication of established colon and liver tumors in mouse models points to the agent’s potential in future clinical use in humans. Former postdoctoral fellow Dr. Ju Chen from Dr. Kepeng Wang’s lab is the leading author of the publication.  Please use this link to access the publication: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383523003416

Congratulations to Dr. Zhichao Fan for receiving another Cystic Fibrosis Foundation grant entitled, “Impact of CFTR in monocyte adhesion and integrin function”.  Dr. Beiyan Zhou and Dr. Anthony Vella from the Department of Immunology and Dr. Wenqi Gan from the Department of Public Health Sciences serve as Co-Investigators.

Dr. Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja received an AAI 2023 Careers in Immunology Fellowship which provides one year of salary for postdoctoral fellow Dr. Rafael Ricci de Azevedo. Their project is entitled, “Mechanisms of Shiga toxin-mediated cell death".

Dr. Kepeng Wang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology, was selected as the 2023 recipient of the Osborn Award for Excellence in Biomedical Science Graduate Teaching.  This award recognizes a UConn Health Graduate School faculty member for his or her commitment to providing the best education in the classroom and training in the laboratory. Congratulations Dr. Wang!