Scientist; @theNASciences member; Alum @Cambridge_Uni; Studies Epigenetics; Views are my own
Washington DC
Joined February 2015
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Introns have a hidden regulatory role! 🧬🎉
Delighted to share our latest paper showing that inefficiently spliced introns and spliceosomal proteins direct RNA methylation, engaging RNAi to silence retrotransposons and regulate gene expression
nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
🤖 Made with AI
Delighted to see @biopatrika spotlight Dr. Drisya Vijayakumari and her recently published work from our lab on how introns help silence retrotransposons and modulate gene expression. Congratulations, Drisya, on this well-deserved recognition! 👏🧬
nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
#researcherspotlight Dr. Drisya Vijayakumari @DrisyaV1 from Prof. Shiv Grewal @grewalsh lab at @NIH USA talks about her work on "How Introns Help Silence Retrotransposons and Protect Genome Stability" @NatureComms biopatrika.com/academia/rese… via @biopatrika
Shiv Grewal retweeted
Our paper introduces membrane-impermeable caspase inhibitors that use GSDMD pores as their entry route.
Because these compounds can't cross an intact membrane, they enter only cells already forming GSDMD pores — before pore density exceeds the cell's repair capacity. This confers built-in specificity: the drug acts solely on pyroptotic cells, leaving apoptosis and healthy cells untouched, addressing the off-target toxicity that has limited earlier, cell-permeable caspase inhibitors.
The effect goes beyond arresting cell death. Cells already committed to pyroptosis reverse course and regain viability — a "Lazarus effect" that challenges the assumption that lytic cell death, once initiated, is irreversible.
In essence, these unexpected results could create new opportunities for precisely targeting inflammatory cell death while safeguarding healthy tissue.
Congratulations, @KaustuvSanyal and team! Really interesting work—congrats on a fantastic study. And I absolutely love the cartoon!
Check out our latest paper on the drug resistance strategies adopted by the Superbug Candida auris in Indian hospitals. @NatureComms nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
Congratulations and a huge thank you to @DrisyaV1 @XanderGottfried @BrentGroubert @JothyDhaksh @ShwetajainX @Anupa_Anil, Martin Zofall, Diego Folco, Thorkell Andresson and David Wheeler for your incredible hard work and dedication 🎉👏
Congratulations, Nitika and team, on your outstanding Nature publication! A fantastic achievement—well deserved!
Very excited to share our new Nature study! We discovered that replication stress stabilizes CTCF-dependent chromatin loops enclosing stressed nascent DNA, where G9a-mediated heterochromatin protects it from nucleolytic degradation. nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
Shiv Grewal retweeted
“He was the first to establish that heterochromatic gene silencing can be stably propagated through meiosis and inherited in cis, extending the concept of inheritance beyond DNA sequences and defining fundamental principles governing epigenetic inheritance of silenced chromatin domains” Amazing!
To stay ahead of cancer, we need to understand how tumor cells adapt. This @theNCI study reveals how environmental stress can drive heritable changes in gene expression, offering new insights into one of cancer’s greatest challenges: drug resistance. go.nih.gov/iie4xBv
ALT This diagram shows how environmental stressors like antifungal drugs or high temperatures can trigger a molecular chain reaction inside fission yeast cells, which share many of the same pathways as human cells.\n\nExternal signals funnel through two internal communication networks into a molecular dimmer switch called the heterochromatin heritability regulatory hub, or HRH. When stress turns the dimmer up, the HRH can drive the assembly of tightly packed DNA regions called heterochromatin, locking certain genes off. Those silencing patterns can then be passed on to daughter cells when the cell divides \u2014 no changes to the underlying DNA sequence required. Image Credit: Shiv Grewal
Shiv Grewal retweeted
To stay ahead of cancer, we need to understand how tumor cells adapt. This @theNCI study reveals how environmental stress can drive heritable changes in gene expression, offering new insights into one of cancer’s greatest challenges: drug resistance. go.nih.gov/iie4xBv
ALT This diagram shows how environmental stressors like antifungal drugs or high temperatures can trigger a molecular chain reaction inside fission yeast cells, which share many of the same pathways as human cells.\n\nExternal signals funnel through two internal communication networks into a molecular dimmer switch called the heterochromatin heritability regulatory hub, or HRH. When stress turns the dimmer up, the HRH can drive the assembly of tightly packed DNA regions called heterochromatin, locking certain genes off. Those silencing patterns can then be passed on to daughter cells when the cell divides \u2014 no changes to the underlying DNA sequence required. Image Credit: Shiv Grewal
Thanks to @unc_lineberger and @DrBrianStrahl for the invitation to give a keynote at the 9th Chromatin & Epigenetics Symposium and for organizing a stimulating meeting. Grateful to colleagues who made time to meet and chat - really enjoyed discussions!
Honored to deliver the keynote at the upcoming UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Chromatin & Epigenetics Symposium. Looking forward to lively discussions and new insights. Grateful for the invitation!
Join leading researchers and trainees for a full day of talks, posters, and networking focused on chromatin dynamics, epigenetic regulation, and emerging technologies on March 12!
Keynote speaker: Shiv Grewal, PhD (@grewalsh)
The registration deadline is March 6 at noon.
unclineberger.org/event/9th-…
ALT Headshot of Shiv Grewal, PhD
Shiv Grewal retweeted
I was doing some computer file clean up recently and came across this picture of Gobind Khorana.
I took it when I was in Cambridge, MA for a meeting and, as I did most times when I visited Boston, I made a point of stopping and spending time with Gobind.
This was taken outside an assisted living center where he resided.
For those who might not know who he was, his research at Univ Wisconsin & MIT led him to discover the Rosetta Stone of Life, the three nucleotide to one amino acid genetic code.
That discovery made him the first Indian-born scientist to win the Nobel Prize.
I got to his lab at MIT as he was moving from the world of RNA/DNA to membranes and photon processing. We did some foundational work using carbene precursors to generate covalent protein-membrane couplings via laser photolysis.
During his peak three decades of research he published a paper every 11 days. He invented ALL of the chemistry that made DNA/RNA synthesis possible...and never patented a thing.
My favorite times in his lab were the early Saturday mornings when his phone wasn't ringing, there were few of us working, and we could just talk about science, life, etc.
He was the gentlest man I have ever known.
RIP Gobind (1922-2011)
Shiv Grewal retweeted
@grok
The definition of the 'Heterochromatin Heritability Regulatory Hub' (HRH) is a paradigm shift. Establishing that Raf1-driven H3K14ub can bypass the classical HDAC requirement for propagation connects the dots between environmental stress and adaptive resistance. Incredible resolution on the TOR/NMD inputs.
Shiv Grewal retweeted
ヒストンH3のユビキチン化を中核とする制御ネットワークを同定し、ヒストンH3のユビキチン化が、外的刺激（環境ストレス）に応答したヘテロクロマチンの形成・維持を調節していることを明らかにした論文がNature誌に発表されました。
nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
Shiv Grewal retweeted
Nature research paper: Stress controls heterochromatin inheritance via histone H3 ubiquitylation
go.nature.com/4qMpuAJ
Thank you @Tanejalab
Thank you @ankita_banyal
Congratulations sir @grewalsh and all the authors on this impressive work.
Stress-driven regulation of heterochromatin and epigenetic inheritance via histone ubiquitylation is a fascinating advance.
Shiv Grewal retweeted
Congratulations, Shiv @grewalsh & your team on a beautiful paper @Nature. We had a sneak peek during your visit to IISER Mohali last month. We look forward to having you visit us soon & discussing these fascinating results, in which we are very interested.
nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
It was wonderful to host Shiv Grewal @grewalsh at @IISERMohali today. Shiv gave a beautiful talk on heterochromatin propagation and the epigenetic landscape. We had a stimulating discussion after his lecture. It was also great to have him visit my single-molecule biophysics lab.
Stress controls epigenetic inheritance!
A histone ubiquitylation-based regulatory hub links stress/environmental signaling to heterochromatin self-propagation and epigenetic inheritance-reshaping how we think about development, drug resistance and cancer👉nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
ALT Read in Nature 👉https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09899-8
Congratulations to @bharatbhatt91, @Yi_Wei0909 and co-authors, including our collaborators David Ball, Tatiana Karpova, Hongyun Qi, and Jiemin Wong, for their outstanding contributions to this work. Thank you all! 👏 @theNCI
8/ In fungi, this system promotes resistance to antifungal drugs by adjusting heterochromatin spreading - highlighting its physiological relevance