Iva Hafner Bratkovič's Avatar

Iva Hafner Bratkovič

@ivahb.bsky.social

Scientist, synthetic immunologist, loves minimalism. Interested in innate immunity, inflammasomes, cell death, inflammation, autoinflammatory diseases and cancer.

438 Followers  |  350 Following  |  15 Posts  |  Joined: 18.11.2024  |  2.2668

Latest posts by ivahb.bsky.social on Bluesky

Congrats @lauracanaday.bsky.social @andypedsid.bsky.social @hafeldman17.bsky.social
& team on our newest publication @jimmunol.bsky.social
Refined cell transfer model reveals roles for Ascl2 and Cxcr3 in splenic localization of mouse NK cells during virus infection
academic.oup.com/jimmunol/adv...

22.07.2025 21:12 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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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...

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

17.07.2025 12:12 — 👍 19    🔁 10    💬 3    📌 0

One month left until early registration closes! Apply now if you would like to be considered for a talk.

It will be an amazing conference bringing together leading scientists in the field of protein design.
[Protein Emoji]

11.07.2025 11:51 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Clustering of NLRP3 induced by membrane or protein scaffolds promotes inflammasome assembly - Nature Communications NLRP3 inflammasome activation is critical for the induction of protective immunity, but molecular insights are still lacking. Here, the authors express NLRP3 variants targeted to different cellular lo...

NLRP3 inflammasomes can assemble on most organelles. A beautiful study by Hafner et al demonstrate the flexibility of organelles that can support inflammasome activation. Kudos to the authors on an intriguing study.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@ivahb.bsky.social @elvirab.bsky.social

27.05.2025 13:31 — 👍 16    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 0
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Subcellular location of NLRP3 is not essential, but clustering on different scaffolds is. This explains how NLRP3 can react to so many diverse stress signals.
9/9

27.05.2025 08:45 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Clustering of NLRP3 induced by membrane or protein scaffolds promotes inflammasome assembly - Nature Communications NLRP3 inflammasome activation is critical for the induction of protective immunity, but molecular insights are still lacking. Here, the authors express NLRP3 variants targeted to different cellular lo...

Ever wondered where NLRP3 needs to be in the cell to activate the #inflammasome? Turns out, it does not really matter. Check out our latest study in
@natcomms.nature.com: nature.com/articles/s41...
See 🧵👇
1/9

27.05.2025 08:41 — 👍 8    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 2

Check out Elvira's explanation of the freshly published study below...

27.05.2025 08:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Clustering of NLRP3 induced by membrane or protein scaffolds promotes inflammasome assembly - Nature Communications NLRP3 inflammasome activation is critical for the induction of protective immunity, but molecular insights are still lacking. Here, the authors express NLRP3 variants targeted to different cellular lo...

Are there spatial restrictions in NLRP3 #inflammasome activation? I am super excited to share our new study spearheaded by amazing @elvirab.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

27.05.2025 08:40 — 👍 21    🔁 9    💬 0    📌 1

Two-dozen billion-dollar U.S. startups were founded by foreign students who studied at Harvard
--Axios.

Making America Poor Again
Making America Dumb Again

24.05.2025 23:04 — 👍 34    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 0
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I Founded Girls Who Code. Now I’m Worried About Boys Boys and men are less likely to turn to their communities for social connection and support.

Just like we need women in STEM and "Girls Who Code", we need “Men Who Nurse” and “Guys Who Teach,” pipeline programs that can offer boys pathways forward in female-typed fields. @reshmasaujani.bsky.social
time.com/7286184/worr...

20.05.2025 02:50 — 👍 985    🔁 165    💬 29    📌 14

Cryo-EM structures of a protein pore reveal a cluster of cholesterol molecules and diverse roles of membrane lipids pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40140423/ #cryoEM

28.03.2025 22:51 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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#scalpel #groundbreaking #cancertreatment #photomedicine #immunotherapy… | SCALPEL-Project ✨ Lighting Up a New Era in Cancer Treatment ✨   We are excited to introduce #SCALPEL – a #groundbreaking, Europe-wide initiative that is set to redefine…

Exciting times ahead! Kicking off our new EIC Pathfinder project SCALPEL:
www.linkedin.com/posts/scalpe...

19.03.2025 11:32 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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S čim so prepričale te tri mlade slovenske znanstvenice? Za odličnost njihovega raziskovanja bodo letos nagrajene molekularna biologinja Tajda Klobučar, raziskovalka na področju biomedicine Sara Orehek in kognitivna nevroznanstvenica Manca Peskar.

Congratulations to the Unesco L'Oreal For Women in Science (Slovenia) Awardees!
siol.net/novice/digis...

06.03.2025 21:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $4.4M to top young scientists

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $4.4M to top young scientists
www.damonrunyon.org/news/entries...

05.03.2025 19:42 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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This is a list of blockbuster drugs in 2024. Guess how many can trace their origins to NIH funded research?
All of them.

08.02.2025 04:09 — 👍 588    🔁 278    💬 10    📌 6

This administration is taking a blowtorch to the entire education path from early childhood programs to undergrad universities to higher ed as we look on. Any US company/institution that relies on a well-educated workforce is going to lose its competitive edge. This is a ⏰⏰⏰⏰🔥🔥national crisis

08.02.2025 13:22 — 👍 24    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0
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Excited to join bsky.social! 🌟
Our latest study, on the cover of @embopress.org , shows platelets transfer transcription factor (NF-κB, p38) signaling to monocytes, licensing monocyte inflammation, and restoring monocyte dysfunction in autoimmune Thrombocytopenia.
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

03.12.2024 16:59 — 👍 10    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Congratulations!

21.01.2025 19:57 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Researchers at the National Institute of Chemistry have developed a novel therapeutic strategy called cytokine-armed pyroptosis.
The study, published in @naturecomms.bsky.social , will be presented by first author Sara Orehek on January 23, 2025, at the Forum 40 lecture series.
bit.ly/4ho2e7m

20.01.2025 07:35 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
LinkedIn This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

Check this video where he Head of the #CTGCT prof. dr. Mojca Benčina appeared in the news of the Slovenian national TV as one of the breakthrough discoveries by Slovenian scientists in 2024.

lnkd.in/dtx6VyNT

#research #ultrasound #innovation #cellandgentherapy

09.01.2025 15:00 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Cytokine-armed pyroptosis induces antitumor immunity against diverse types of tumors - Nature Communications ‘Gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis can induce anti-tumor immune responses. Here the authors report a toolbox of gasdermin D variants for induction of pyroptosis, showing that, when combined with intratumo...

Researchers (from @ivahb.bsky.social's group and #CTGCT) developed a way to enhance the immune system's ability to combat cancer combining pyroptosis, with specific cytokines that boost immune activity.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#CancerResearch #Immunotherapy #Innovation #Science

06.01.2025 11:47 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Thanks Rebecca! Happy New Year!

31.12.2024 15:13 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Thank you Jeffrey, happy new year!

31.12.2024 09:54 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Thanks to co-authors Taja Železnik Ramuta, Špela Malenšek, Duško Lainšček, Mojca Benčina, Martin Šala and Roman Jerala and funding agencies Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, Horizon EU and EFIS for Eastern Star Award.

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Fig. 9: Cytokine-armed pyroptosis drives immune response against tumor rechallenge. | Nature Communications

In the end, we also demonstrate that cytokine-armed pyroptosis is a viable strategy for treating tumors of different origins and immunotypes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Fig. 7: Infective NT GSDMD + IL-1β + IL-18 treatment is characterized by interferon signaling and the upregulation of immune checkpoints. | Nature Communications

However, some cytokines such as a combination of IL-1b and IL-18 abort the protective effect of pyroptosis!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Fig. 5: The effect of IL-12 cytokine-armed pyroptosis in B16F10 mouse melanoma model. | Nature Communications

We show that also inflammasome-unrelated cytokine IL-12 can be used to boost the therapeutic effect of intratumoral pyroptosis induction.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Fig. 4: Deconstruction of the inflammasome in cancer cells induces potent antitumor effects. | Nature Communications

When pyroptosis induction is preceded by the intratumoral expression of IL-1beta or IL-18, the effect of cell death induction on tumor-free survival is enhanced.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Fig. 2: NT GSDMD treatment results in tumor surveillance. | Nature Communications

In the mouse B16 melanoma model, the intratumoral electrogenic transfer of plasmid encoding pyroptosis inducer leads to the long-term tumor-free survival of approximately 20% of treated animals.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Fig. 1: Design and in vitro validation of GSDMD-induced cell death. | Nature Communications

To induce immunogenic cell death, we generated a toolbox of gasdermin D variants with different modes of regulation and strength of cell death induction.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.12.2024 23:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

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