Tanvi Ahluwalia (voice), Chelsea Klein (post-production), and Amanda Bruce (post-production) from the Translational Molecular Medicine program at the University of Ottawa interview Ph.D. student Rafael Silva Lima from the Cell-Cell Interaction Lab at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Rafael works on the characterization of the intestinal microbiota and the expression and methylation profile in CD4 + T cell differentiation genes in childhood and juvenile obesity. In this episode, Rafael shares with us his research on COVID-19 and how obesity interplays with the immune system to foster a severe immune response and contribute to severe COVID-19. 

Learn more: https://labicufmg.wixsite.com/labic/alunos?lang=en 

0:00 - Introduction
1:30 - What is covid-19?
5:00 - How does obesity provide higher susceptibility to COVID-19 symptoms?
6:15 - Immunology & Obesity Research
7:15- Why obesity?
8:00 - How did you select papers for the review? 
9:00 - Upregulated Genes in Obesity
10:30 - Next steps in obesity research & COVID-19 research
12:15 - Differences in immune response between COVID-19 variants