Publications by authors named "Kelvin Han Chung Chong"

Enzyme-catalyzed protein modifications have become invaluable in diverse applications, outperforming chemical methods in terms of precision, conjugation efficiency, and biological compatibility. Despite significant advances in ligases, such as sortase A and OaAEP1, their use in heterogeneous biological environments remains constrained by limited target sequence specificity. In 2021, Lupas' group introduced Connectase, a family of repurposed archaeal proteases for protein ligations, but its low processivity and lack of structural information have impeded further engineering for practical biological and biophysical applications.

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In subjects with peculiar susceptibility to severe infections by common pyogenic bacteria, mutations of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase proteins (IRAK)1 and IRAK4 had been identified. The IRAK kinases function as downstream signal transductors following the activation of pathogen recognition receptors. In two patients with sequential or repeated invasive infections: herpes simplex virus-triggered hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis with tuberculosis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteremia with candidemia respectively, novel mutations of IRAK2 were identified.

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ADAR1-mediated RNA editing establishes immune tolerance to endogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) by preventing its sensing, primarily by MDA5. Although deleting Ifih1 (encoding MDA5) rescues embryonic lethality in ADAR1-deficient mice, they still experience early postnatal death, and removing other MDA5 signaling proteins does not yield the same rescue. Here, we show that ablation of MDA5 in a liver-specific Adar knockout (KO) murine model fails to rescue hepatic abnormalities caused by ADAR1 loss.

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Innate immune adaptor proteins are critical components of the innate immune system that propagate pro-inflammatory responses from their upstream receptors, and lead to pathogen clearance from the host. Bacterial pathogens have developed strategies to survive inside host cells without triggering the innate immune surveillance in ways that are still not fully understood. Here, it is reported that Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces its quorum sensing mechanism after macrophage engulfment.

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Nod-like receptor (NLR) proteins activate pyroptotic cell death and IL-1 driven inflammation by assembling and activating the inflammasome complex. Closely related sensor proteins NLRP1 and CARD8 undergo unique auto-proteolysis-dependent activation and are implicated in auto-inflammatory diseases; however, their mechanisms of activation are not understood. Here we report the structural basis of how the activating domains (FIIND-CARD) of NLRP1 and CARD8 self-oligomerize to assemble distinct inflammasome complexes.

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