Marleen Bérouti

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.

The final version of our article about PLD3 AMPylation is now out shorturl.at/iTxWx. One protein, many proteoforms. Congratulations to Laura and thanks to @marleenberouti.bsky.social @v-hornung.bsky.social @jaelab.bsky.social @hellmichgroup.bsky.social

#InterferonPower! Thrilled for our latest work @cp-cell.bsky.social! With @danielboehmer.bsky.social, we dug into tons of papers & created what we hope will be a go-to resource for immunologists & non-immunologist about type I, II, III (& IV😉) #interferons! Free👉 authors.elsevier.com/a/1leKGL7PXu...

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 ...

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...

Innate immune system: How modified RNA tricks the immune system Researchers at LMU have elucidated why certain RNA modifications do not trigger an immune response—a key mechanism for RNA therapeutics.

🥳Amazing publication from the Hornung lab, in collab. with the Carell lab, on the innate immune system: how modified RNA tricks the immune system. Big shout-out to the two first authors, Marleen Bérouti and Mirko Wagner! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@v-hornung.bsky.social @m-berouti.bsky.social

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 t...

I am very excited to share the second paper of my PhD published in @cp-cell.bsky.social.
Many thanks to all co-authors, especially from Thomas Carell's group, and my supervisor @v-hornung.bsky.social for their great support and collaboration!

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

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.

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

Many thanks to all co-authors, especially from Thomas Carell's group, and my supervisor @v-hornung.bsky.social for their great support and collaboration!

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.

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

Teaser Veit Hornung YouTube video by Fondation Louis-Jeantet

Sneak preview: watch the teaser of VEIT HORNUNG
@v-hornung.bsky.social @genecenter-lmu.bsky.social

🎞️ youtu.be/Q_YCcZj6h8o

Join us next week for the #LJFPrizes Lectures:
📆9th April 16h30
📍Auditoire Alex Müller (A250), Centre Médical Universitaire, Genève

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

New: Sato, Miyake @UTokyo_News_en and colleagues report that the lack of RNase T2 activates TLR13, the sensor of bacterial 23S ribosomal RNAs, leading to the accumulation of tissue-protective Kupffer cells. https://buff.ly/4hw6kL0

Companion study by @v-hornung.bsky.social https://buff.ly/4jG49Gy

The TLR7/9 adaptors TASL and TASL2 mediate IRF5-dependent antiviral responses and autoimmunity in mouse - Nature Communications TASL is an adaptor molecule bridging Toll-like receptor signalling and transcription activation by IRF5. Here the authors show that TASL deficiency impacts TLR7/9 responses, and that a TASL paralogue,...

Excited to share our latest paper out today in @naturecomms.bsky.social !

Great work led by postdoc Ales Drobek showing for the first time the critical role in vivo of the SLC15A4/TASL/IRF5 pathway that we discovered few years ago.

#ImmunoSky #InterferoSky

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.