STING Discoveries garner Michelson Prize

Irvine Lab alum Bingxu Liu PhD '23 (VII) has been recognized with the 2024 Michelson Philanthropies and Science Prize for Immunology for uncovering how the STING signaling pathway controls a variety of immune responses. In his prize profile he recounts how he became interested in science and, eventually immunology, before focusing on STING in his graduate research at MIT.

While at the Koch Institute, Liu’s work helped uncover a surprising, previously unknown role for STING, an immune-regulating protein. In a study appearing in Science, done in collaboration with the Blainey Lab and the Broad Institute’s Hacohen group, Liu and his collaborators found that in addition to turning on genes involved in cell defense, the STING protein also acts as an ion channel—mechanisms involved in cell signaling and bioelectrics. This is the first human immune sensor found to translate danger signals into ion flow. The findings could help researchers improve cancer therapies targeting STING, so that they stimulate the immune system to destroy tumors without damaging healthy tissues.

As part of the prize, an essay from Liu describing his research appears in the print and online editions of Science.