Molecular and synthetic inflammasomes
Group members - PyroCellfluencers:
dr. Iva Hafner Bratkovič, group leader
dr. Taja Železnik Ramuta, postdoctoral researcher
Elvira Boršić, PhD student
Sara Orehek, PhD student
We are interested in inflammasomes, potent cytosolic proinflammatory machines that are on one hand important protectors against pathogens, but on the other hand, also promote inflammation in various non-communicable aging-related diseases. Inflammasome activation leads to the activation of inflammatory caspases that in turn activate proinflammatory cytokines IL-1b and IL-18 and gasdermin D to trigger pyroptosis. We are also building inflammasomes from scratch to either gain important mechanistic insight into a natural pathway or to help the immune system to fight threats that otherwise remain undetected, such as cancer.
Students, interested to join our endeavor, write to iva(dot)hafner(at)ki(dot)si .
Recent publications:
Evavold1, CL, Hafner Bratkovič1, I, Devant, P, DʼAndrea, JM., Ngwa, EM, Boršić, E, Doench, JG, Lafleur, MW, Sharpe, AH, Thiagarajah, JR, Kagan, JC. Control of gasdermin D oligomerization and pyroptosis by the Ragulator-Rag-mTORC1 pathway. Cell (2021), 184 (17): 4495-4511. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.028 1equal contribution
Devant1, P, Boršić1, E, Ngwa1, EM, Xiao, H., Chouchani, ET, Thiagarajah*,JR, Hafner-Bratkovič*,I, Evavold*, CL, Kagan*, JC. Gasdermin D pore-forming activity is redox sensitive. Cell Reports (2023), 42(1):112008. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112008 1equal contribution
Hafner Bratkovič*, I, Sušjan, P, Lainšček, D, Tapia-Abellán, A, Cerović, Ko, Kadunc, L, Angosto-Bazarra, D, Pelegrin, P, Jerala*, R. NLRP3 lacking the leucine-rich repeat domain can be fully activated via the canonical inflammasome pathway. Nature communications (2018), 9: 5182 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07573-4
Sušjan, P, Lainšček, D, Strmšek, Ž, Hodnik, V, Anderluh, G, Hafner Bratkovič, I*. Selective inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome by designed peptide originating from ASC. The FASEB journal (2020), 34(8):11068-11086. CI 4/4 DOI: 10.1096/fj.201902938RR
Sušjan, P, Benčina, M, Hafner Bratkovič, I*. Differential effect of extracellular acidic environment on IL−1βIL−1β released from human and mouse phagocytes. International journal of molecular sciences (2020), 21 (19):7229-1-7229-16. CI 6/7 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21197229