Anna Beaudin from University of Utah talks about the key thread of her career, development, and how that influences her research on the events happening during critical prenatal windows shapes everything from the developing immune system to hearing loss.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Anna Beaudin

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Beaudin lab at University of Utah
• PhD work on metabolism and development
• Postdoc work on hematopoietic stem cells
• Maternal inflammation and hematopoietic stem cell development
• Prenatal inflammation effect on postnatal immunity
• Early life inflammation and hearing loss
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Leslie Berg talks about her career studying T cell receptor signaling, T cell development, and the importance of mentors in her career.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Leslie Berg

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Berg lab at University of Colorado Anschutz
• TCR thresholds and ITK (PNAS)
• Review on TCR signaling (Nat Immunol)
• Generation of TCR transgenic mice (Mol Cell Bio)
• T cell negative selection in TCR transgenic mice (Nature)
• Thymic exit of mature T cells in TCR transgenic mice (Cell)
• AAI past president Berg information
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

The whole Immune gang gathers with special guests Gretchen Diehl and Shruti Naik at The Incubator with an audience to celebrate the 100th episode.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, Stephanie Langel, and Brianne Barker

Guests: Gretchen Diehl and Shruti Naik

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Diehl: Gut microbe-specific T cell development (Nature 2021)
• Diehl: Bacteria-induced IL-1 is gut protective (Gut Microbes 2022)
• Diehl: Microbiota, macrophages, IL10, and colitis (Gut Microbes 2022)
• Diehl: E. coli-activated circuit restrains gut inflammation (Cell Rep 2025)
• Naik: Commensals control skin inflammation (Science 2012)
• Naik: IL-17 and hypoxic stress during skin repair (Science 2022)
• Naik: Human psoriasis and spatial transcriptomics (Sci Immunol 2023)
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami.

Immune logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

David Schatz talks about his discovery of Rag genes that are critical for antigen receptor development and how that discovery depended on taking high risks and using approaches that everyone thought could never work.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: David Schatz

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Transfer of recombinase activity in non-lymphoid cells (Cell 1988)
• Identification of the RAG-1 gene (Cell 1989)
• Evolution of a recombinase (Semin Immunol 2004)
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

The Immune team discusses the groundbreaking discoveries of regulatory T cells, which was the topic of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, and Brianne Barker

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Sakaguchi lab paper on FoxP3 and regulatory T cells (Science 2003)
• Brunkow and Ramsdell description of scurfy mouse mutation (Nature 2001)
• Nobel Prize writeup on Treg discoveries
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Susan Schwab talks about how she got the research bug, bugs she ate, and her research on how the lipid S1P helps T cells decide- should I stay or should I go.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Susan Schwab

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Schwab lab website
• Monocytes produce the lipid S1P to regulate T cell movement
• Review on S1P and immune cell migration
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Immune discusses cross-reactive antibodies to avian influenza neuraminidases and a role for gut-derived T cells in the brain to regulate eating behavior.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, Steph Langel, and Brianne Barker

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of Immune!

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Antibody cross-reactivity to influenza H5N1 (Cell Host Microbe, 2025)
• Gut-derived T cells regulate behavior (Nature, 2025)
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Kristian Andersen from Scripps Research Institute joins Cindy to talk about how he got interested in virus evolution, how the immune system drives viral adaptation, and what we can learn from this research to better prepare us for the next pandemic.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Kristian Andersen

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of Immune!

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Andersen Lab website
• Perspective on Immunological drivers of virus emergence
• Kristian's appearance on TWiV 774
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Cindy and Steph discuss a paper that challenges the textbook dogma that B cells must first bind to an antigen for antibody affinity maturation to occur, and a snippet on dysfunctional T cells during bacterial vaginosis.

Hosts: Cindy Leifer and Steph Langel

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of Immune!

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Somatic hypermutation in non-specific B cells (Immunity 2025)
• Dysfunctional T cells during bacterial vaginosis (J Clin Invest 2025)
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Cindy sits down with Bali Pulendran at the AAI 2025 meeting where he told the story of how a childhood fascination with the cosmos grew into a career addressing fundamental questions about the human immune response, and how when an antigen enters the body it is like the big bang in how it initiates immune responses.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Bali Pulendran

Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of Immune!

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Systems vaccinology determines antibody responses and durability (Nature 2025)
• World's largest immunology experiment (Sem Immunol 2024)
• Systems Vaccinology Review (Immunity 2010)
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami. Logo image by Blausen Medical Send your immunology questions and comments to [email protected]

Information on this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.