One week ago, I finally defended my PhD ✨ I am deeply grateful to my supervisor @v-hornung.bsky.social, as well as to all collaborators and present and past lab members who made these past years fly by. Looking forward to everything that comes next.

Excited to share the first paper of my PhD, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Huge thanks to all authors, especially to co-first author Stefan Bauernfried, Alex Horswill‘s lab and @mannlab.bsky.social, and my supervisor @v-hornung.bsky.social. www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Inflammasome-independent IL-1β activation via staphopain A protease of Staphylococcus aureus

Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is a pivotal mediator of innate immunity, essential for orchestrating the acute inflammatory response. While the canonical activation of IL-1β involves cleavage of its inactive ...

jbc.org

Now online! Pseudouridine RNA avoids immune detection through impaired endolysosomal processing and TLR engagement

Pseudouridine RNA avoids immune detection through impaired endolysosomal processing and TLR engagement

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 7 and 8 detect RNA degradation products to sense infection. However, modified nucleosides common in self-RNA—most notably pseudouridine—evade recognition. This study finds that poor nuclease processing and selective TLR avoidance drive this evasion, offering insight into the molecular basis of immune tolerance to pseudouridine-containing RNA.

dlvr.it

Our manuscript on dsRNA sensor OAS2 from the lab of @oliveiramann.bsky.social is now out in @cp-molcell.bsky.social ! Thanks again to the whole team for their effort putting this story together!

Molecular Cell@cp-molcell.bsky.social · last yr.

Online Now: Structural basis for OAS2 regulation and its antiviral function Online now:

Wow, so cool!🌟 Excellence in Nucleic Acid Sciences and Technologies: NUCLEATE Cluster selected for national recognition Led by spokesperson Veit Hornung, the NUCLEATE Cluster secures funding in Germany’s Excellence Strategy 🥂🥳🤩 www.lmu.de/en/newsroom/... @v-hornung.bsky.social

NUCLEATE Cluster of Excellence: beacon of nucleic acid research

The new NUCLEATE Cluster of Excellence is all about nucleic acids. The research alliance seeks to better understand their various functions and open up new areas of application.

lmu.de

The full videos are available! Check them out: VEIT HORNUNG @v-hornung.bsky.social @genecenter-lmu.bsky.social youtu.be/YBVArSDgFMA

Veit Hornung, winner of the 2025 Collen Jeantet Prize for Translational Medicine

YouTube video by Fondation Louis-Jeantet

youtu.be

🥂🤩first snapshot of yesterday's award ceremony👇

Louis-Jeantet Foundation@louisjeantetfdn.bsky.social · 2y ago

Join us at the CMU for the #LouisJeantetPrizes Lectures, celebrating VEIT HORNUNG @v-hornung.bsky.social @genecenter-lmu.bsky.social and GILLES LAURENT @maxplanck.de 📆9th April 16h30 📍CMU, A250 Free registration on: www.jeantet.ch/evenements-p...

I’m very excited to share our first preprint “Structural Basis for OAS2 Regulation and its Antiviral Function” from my postdoc together with Veronika Merold (Vroni) from NTase lab with @oliveiramann.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Structural Basis for OAS2 Regulation and its Antiviral Function https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.28.635220v1

Gomez-Diaz, @v-hornung.bsky.social et al. show that mice lacking RNase T2 display an inflammatory phenotype in a TLR13-dependent manner, even under germ-free conditions, suggesting that RNase T2 plays an important role in limiting self-RNA recognition https://buff.ly/4jG49Gy

VEIT HORNUNG @v-hornung.bsky.social @genecenter-lmu.bsky.social is awarded the 2025 Collen-Jeantet Prize for Translational Medicine for his important contributions to our understanding of how foreign nucleic acids and other non-self signals trigger the innate immune system.