Project description
‘Freeze-frame’ imaging of non-canonical inflammasomes in action
Non-canonical inflammasomes are specialised immune signalling complexes that directly detect lipopolysaccharide (LPS) – a toxic component of Gram-negative bacterial cell walls – inside the cell’s cytoplasm. The inflammasomes directly bind to cytosolic LPS, triggering an aggressive cascade of immune responses to stop an infection. This includes bursting of the infected cell and cell death. The ERC-funded INFLAMMAZOOM project aims to investigate the structural mechanisms underlying inflammasome specificity, assembly and activation on the bacterial membrane using sequential snapshots made possible by time-resolved and correlative cryoEM imaging. Deeper understanding will have implications for serious and often life-threatening conditions including sepsis and blood-brain barrier breakdown and for innate immunity more generally.
Objective
Inflammasomes are essential components of the innate immune system that form cytosolic multi-protein complexes restricting pathogen growth and coordinating inflammatory signalling. Among these, non-canonical inflammasomes are unique lipid-protein assemblies where inflammatory caspases directly sense and oligomerise on bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), triggering a response that ultimately induces lytic cell death.
Despite the critical role of non-canonical inflammasomes, the transient and heterogeneous nature of their assembly on the complex Gram-negative bacterial membrane has left the structural mechanisms underlying their specificity, assembly, and activation largely undefined. In this project, I will leverage technical advancements uniquely tailored to study dynamic membrane-associated complexes to zoom into the structural mechanisms governing non-canonical inflammasome assembly and activation across increasing levels of biological complexity. By innovating tools and workflows for time-resolved and correlative cryoEM imaging I will capture sequential snapshots of non-canonical inflammasomes assembly on bacterial membranes, both in vitro and in infected cells. I will elucidate how the inflammasome initiation complex assembles on the bacterial membrane, how it cooperatively employs GTP hydrolysis to deform and expose bacterial LPS and how this platform directs caspases to exposed membrane sites where they form the non-canonical inflammasome.
Understanding the fundamental principles that fuel the non-canonical inflammasome engine has broad implications for innate immune signalling, as excessive inflammasome activity provokes severe conditions such as sepsis and blood-brain barrier breakdown, highlighting the relevance of this research for guiding inflammation-modulating strategies. The approach and methodology developed will also broadly benefit the study of structure and dynamics of other supramolecular assemblies on complex membrane environments.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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2628 CN Delft
Netherlands
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