STING1 activation in brain endothelium by Plasmodium-sequestered heme leads to lethal cerebral malaria through activation of type I IFN response. Teresa Faria Pais 1* , Hajrabibi Ali 1 , Joana Moreira da Silva 1, 2 , Nádia Duarte 1 , Rita Neres 1 , Chintan Chhatbar 3, 4 , Rita C. Acúrcio 5 , Rita C. Guedes 5 , Maria Carolina Strano Moraes 6 , Bruno Costa Silva 6 , Ulrich Kalinke 3 and Carlos Penha-Gonçalves 1,7* 1- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal 2- CIISA, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal 3- Institute for Experimental Infection Research, TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a joint venture between the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and the Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. 4- Institute of Neuropathology, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. 5- Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. 6- Systems Oncology Group, Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal 7- Lead contact * Correspondence: mtpais@igc.gulbenkian.pt; cpenha@igc.gulbenkian.pt; . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license available under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted February 14, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.14.480268 doi: bioRxiv preprint