Join Us! CSB Cutting Lecture Series, Vishva M. Dixit, MD, Friday, May 1, 2026, 12:30 PM, LKSC-LK130
The Department of Chemical and Systems Biology Presents
Cutting Lecture Series
Vishva M. Dixit, MD
Vice President-Research
Genentech, Inc.
Friday, May 1, 2026
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM (Pacific Time)
LKSC – LK130
Talk Title: “Why so many ways to die?”
Abstract: Intracellular lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria activates caspase-11, causing inflammatory cell death (pyroptosis), IL-1β processing, and lethal septic shock. How caspase-11 drives these downstream signaling events is largely unknown. In 2015, we demonstrated that Gasdermin-D (Gsdmd) is essential for caspase-11-dependent pyroptosis and IL-1β release. Macrophages from Gsdmd–/– mice generated through gene targeting exhibited defective pyroptosis and IL-1β release in response to cytoplasmic LPS or Gram-negative bacteria. Mechanistically, caspase-11 cleaves Gsdmd, and the newly generated N-terminal fragment assembles into an oligomeric plasma membrane pore, allowing the release of IL-1β and other leaderless cytokines. At the meeting, I will also provide an update on the unexpected discovery of a mediator of cell lysis: NINJ1, a transmembrane protein that drives the formation of megapores in dying cells, thereby accelerating lysis.