2026 Award Finalist Dr. Tanita Wein

Born north of Hamburg, Tanita Wein first studied in Kiel before she went to the Weizmann Institute of Science. She is now principal Investigator for Systems Immunology at the Weizmann Institute. Her lab explores the origins and mechanisms of innate immunity by studying bacterial defense systems that gave rise to immune pathways in animals, focusing on the ancient and diverse immune systems of bacteria. They aim to uncover both shared features and unique adaptations, which will help to understand how immune systems work, why they are so diverse, and what connects them across the tree of life.

Synopsis of the research:

From bacterial defense to human inflammation

My research investigates the origins and mechanisms of innate immunity by studying bacterial defense systems that gave rise to immune pathways in animals. While processes such as inflammatory cell death were long thought to be unique to multicellular organisms, recent discoveries show that many core components of animal immunity originated in bacteria.

Building on this discovery,my research seeks to understand how inflammatory cell death evolved, is controlled and why it has such profound effects on surrounding cells and tissues. By uncovering the bacterial roots of pyroptosis and other immune pathways, my research provides a conceptual framework for understanding how innate immune pathways function, why they sometimes fail, and how inflammatory cell death contributes to human disease.

I initiated and led the discovery that inflammatory cell death is an ancient immune mechanism conserved from bacteria to humans. I identified bacterial gasdermins, demonstrated their protease-dependent activation and pore-forming cell death, and showed that CARD domains, previously thought to function only in animal inflammasomes, regulate gasdermin activation in bacteria. This work fundamentally reshaped how the origins and mechanisms of innate immunity are understood.