Dr. George Robinson is a Principal Research Fellow at University College London, where his lab focuses on juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus. He discusses current approaches to diagnosis and treatment, as well as the role of sex differences in autoimmunity. (31:20)

Long-Term Allergies: Allergy-associated IgE plasma cells exhibit limited accrual in the bone marrow, and instead reside in other tissues for extended periods. (3:40)

Oral Immunotherapy for Peanut Allergy: Peanut oral immunotherapy reshapes T cell responses, suppressing allergy-associated type 2 helper T cells and boosting cytotoxic type 1 helper T cells, offering clues to long-term tolerance. (9:00)

Neuroprotective Microglia in Alzheimer’s Disease: The protective function of microglia is governed by the transcription factor PU.1, which becomes downregulated following microglial contact with amyloid plaques. (18:09)

Autoimmunity in ALS: Researchers showed that ALS is associated with recognition of the C9orf72 antigen and mapped the specific epitopes that are recognized. (23:20)

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Dr. Camila Coelho is a Principal Investigator at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where her lab studies emerging pathogens. She talks about her lab’s work on mpox and other viruses, her approach to mentorship, and how her MBA education helps her in science. (36:00)

Epigenetic Programming of T Cells – Researchers developed an all-RNA platform for efficient, durable and multiplexed epigenetic programming in primary human T cells. (3:57)

Converting Conventional T Cells to Tregs – Using a combination of cytokines and pharmacological approaches, conventional effector T cells can be converted into functional and stable Tregs. (9:40)

A Host–Pathogen Arms Race – E. coli uses the effector NleL to suppress epithelial extrusion, which aids in bacterial spread. (23:06)

Lactation and Lowered Breast Cancer Risk – Parity induces an accumulation of CD8+ T cells in breast tissue, which reduced tumor growth and increased immune cell infiltration in a mouse model. (28:13)

Image courtesy of Dr. Camila Coelho

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Professor Matteo Iannacone is Director of the Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, Professor of Pathology, and Head of the Dynamics of Immune Responses laboratory at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. His work centers on understanding the generation of dysfunctional adaptive immune cells in chronic hepatitis B virus infection and developing new strategies to reprogram them into functional cells endowed with potent antiviral activity.

The Cells That Keep Immunity in Check – Brenda reviews Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi’s seminal study demonstrating that a population of T cells expressing the IL-2 receptor α chain acts to maintain self-tolerance by suppressing other T cells.

The Gene That Controls Immune Balance – Brenda reviews Dr. Mary Brunkow and Dr. Fred Ramsdell’s work identifying FOXP3 as the gene disrupted in a fatal lymphoproliferation syndrome in the “scurfy” mouse, pointing to FOXP3 as a master regulator of regulatory T cells.

Zap70 and the Treg Cell Repertoire – Age-dependent Zap70 expression regulates negative selection and thymic Treg cell development.

T Cell Exhaustion Driven by Protein Stress – Researchers show that proteotoxic stress, induced by protein aggregation, is not merely a consequence, but a driver of the exhausted T cell state.

Image courtesy of Professor Matteo Iannacone.

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Dr. Robin Orozco is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas, where her lab studies how specific allelic variants affect immune responses. She talks about what we can learn from mouse models and the role of PTPN22 in antiviral immunity. (36:48)

Skin Infections and Food Allergy – Scientists unraveled mechanisms by which S. aureus skin colonization can aggravate food allergy in atopic dermatitis. (3:10)

Cytotoxic T Cell Dynamics – Nuclear polarization represents a key step during cytotoxic T cell-mediated killing. (11:55)

CRISPR-Boosted CAR T Therapies – Researchers discovered, validated, and biologically characterized CRISPR-boosted CAR T cells that outperform standard CAR T cells. (18:36)

CAR T Cells in Myeloma – New findings reveal differing effects of gene perturbation on CAR T cells and highlight a promising target to generate highly effective CAR T cells for multiple myeloma. (26:40)

Image courtesy of Dr. Robin Orozco

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Dr. Harikesh Wong is an Assistant Professor at the Ragon Institute and MIT, where his lab studies the design principles of the immune system.  He talks about how Tregs constrain conventional T cell responses during infection, and advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques to study immune responses. (38:11)

Immunometabolism in HIV – Immunometabolic defects in colon-resident CD8+ T cells in people with HIV lead to intestinal epithelial apoptosis and disruption of intestinal barrier integrity. (2:50)

T Cell Dysfunction in Tumors – Mitochondria or telomeric reactive oxygen species induce DNA damage responses driving T cell dysfunction. (9:15)

Microglia-Astrocyte Crosstalk – Microglia-derived Wnts drive astrocytes to reduce their association with synapses. (22:00)

Monocyte-Derived Macrophages in Tumors – Researchers identified myeloid progenitor programs that fuel pro-tumorigenic monocyte-derived macrophages. (28:45)

Image courtesy of Dr. Harikesh Wong

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Dr. Eric Vivier is a Professor of Immunology at Aix-Marseille Université and the Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy. He is also an awardee of the European Research Council and a member of the French Society of Immunology. In this special episode recorded at the IUIS 2025 Congress in Vienna, Dr. Vivier highlights the critical importance of investing in science, explores the responsibility of governments and other organizations in funding research, and reflects on the role science plays in society.

Strengthening CAR NK Cell Therapies – Scientists have found that natural killer (NK) cells become better at killing cancer cells after removal of key gene targets. (3:00)

Maternal Stress Triggers Infant Eczema – Offspring of stressed pregnant dams have dysregulated mast cells and skin-projecting neurons and quickly develop eczema in response to harmless mechanical friction. (8:55)

Suppressing Necroptosis-Induced Colitis – Researchers show that XBP1 and caspase-8 synergize to prevent colon inflammation. (17:07)

Reprograming T Cells through Cytokine Receptor Expansion – Scientists have leveraged synthetic cytokine receptor engineering to successfully rewire T cell fate decisions and amplify anti-cancer immunity. (24:25)

Image courtesy of Eric Vivier

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In August 2025, we attended the 19th International Congress of Immunology, hosted by the International Union of Immunological Societies, in Vienna, Austria. We chat with delegates about their research and impressions of the meeting. They discuss the most memorable research presented and their experiences in Austria.

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Dr. Zwi Berneman is Emeritus Professor of Hematology at the University of Antwerp, and previously Head of the Division of Hematology at the Antwerp University Hospital. His basic and clinical research is focused on vaccination with immunogenic dendritic cells in cancer and with tolerogenic dendritic cells in multiple sclerosis. He talks about the history and development of dendritic cell vaccines and the work needed to make them more widely available to patients.

Image courtesy of Dr. Zwi Berneman

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In 2025, we attended the 19th International Congress of Immunology, hosted by the International Union of Immunological Societies, in Vienna, Austria, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the conference. Here is the final of five special episodes from the meeting, in which Brenda and Jason discuss sessions on AI applications and CAR T therapy progress.

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In 2025, we attended the 19th International Congress of Immunology, hosted by the International Union of Immunological Societies, in Vienna, Austria, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the conference. Here is the fourth of five special episodes from the meeting, in which Jason and Brenda discuss sessions on cancer immunotherapy and neuroimmunology.

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