Chan et al. and Ru et al., identify defective RNA processing as the root cause of impaired antiviral immunity against SARS-CoV2 in the human brainstem and provide molecular insight into virus-associated severe brainstem encephalitis through PKR inactivation.

Professor Cindy Ma heads the Human Immune Disorders Laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. She is a member of the Garvan Faculty, holds a conjoint appointment with UNSW Sydney (School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health), and is an NHMRC of Australia Investigator Grant Fellow (L1).

Professor Kazuyo Moro, D.D.S., PhD, finished her doctorate in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Keio University School of Medicine in 2007 and then worked there as a postdoctoral fellow for 5 years. She transferred to RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in 2012. For the first 2 years, she worked in the Laboratory for Immune Cell Systems as a senior researcher, and in 2015, she became team leader for the Laboratory for Innate Immune Systems. Since 2019, Prof. Moro holds dual appointments at RIKEN IMS and at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine.