WEHI Wednesday Seminar hosted by Professor Matt Ritchie

Dr Jacki Heraud-Farlow
Newly appointed WEHI lab head – Genetics and Gene Regulation division, WEHI

Keeping the Peace: Mechanisms that Restrain Innate Sensing of Self Double-Stranded RNA

 

Davis Auditorium

Join via SLIDO enter code #WEHIWednesday

Including Q&A session
 

The ability to detect double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) as a signature of viral infection is an evolutionarily conserved feature of innate immunity. However, animal genomes contain remnants of ancient viruses, including endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which can form long dsRNA molecules capable of activating these same immune sensors. To avoid harmful inflammation, cells carefully control dsRNA levels, localisation and its exposure to sensors. Dr Heraud-Farlow has spent the last decade studying how the RNA editing enzyme, ADAR1, suppresses dsRNA sensors to prevent autoinflammation. Using genome-wide CRISPR screening, she has identified new cellular regulators of dsRNA, shedding light on these previously unknown pathways. These findings present new opportunities to manipulate the immune response to RNA, of relevance to autoinflammatory disease and cancer immunotherapy. 

Dr Heraud-Farlow completed her PhD at the University of Vienna studying RNA localisation in neurons before moving back to Melbourne for a postdoc in 2016 with Prof Carl Walkley. She has been awarded >$3.4M in funding as CIA and in 2020 became a Team Leader in the Cancer and RNA Biology lab at St Vincent’s Institute. The team moved to the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Disease at the Hudson Institute in 2024. Jacki will be starting her own lab at WEHI in early 2026.

All welcome!