Dr. Ulrich von Andrian is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Immunopathology at Harvard Medical School and President of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). Dr. Shekhar Pasare is Professor and Director of the Division of Immunobiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He is also the Program Committee Chair for the AAI’s annual meetings. They discuss the upcoming IMMUNOLOGY2026 meeting taking place April 15-19 in Boston. They cover highlights of the program including the Presidential Symposium, special sessions, and opportunities for trainees. (42:30)

Psoriatic Arthritis –  A two-step process involving skin-derived myeloid precursors and joint-resident fibroblasts orchestrates the spread of inflammation from the skin to the joints. (6:15)

Chemotherapy and Cardiac-Resident Macrophages – DNA-damaging chemotherapy can reshape cardiac macrophage ontogeny. (13:50)

Dendritic Cell Cross-Presentation – Neoantigen cross-presentation by Type 1 conventional dendritic cells can determine the immune visibility of the tumor mutational landscape. (26:00)

T Cell Cross-Reactivity – Co-receptor switching generates super selective T cells that reduce the risk of lethal off-target cross-reactivity. (32:20)

Images courtesy of Drs. Ulrich von Andrian and Shekhar Pasare

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Dr. Jayne Danska is a Senior Scientist, Genetics and Genome Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute. She is also Associate Chief of Research, Faculty Development and Diversity, and Professor at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the microbiome in type 1 diabetes. She discusses insights from longitudinal human studies and mouse models. (40:00)

Vaccination for Anaphylaxis –  A vaccine against IgE protected against anaphylaxis in a mouse model. (2:53)

How RSV Can Lead to Asthma – Researchers identified maternal allergy and neonatal RSV infection as converging Fc receptor-dependent risk factors for asthma. (9:50)

Antigen Presentation for MAIT Cell Immunity – Macrophages are key for MR1 antigen presentation and MAIT cell immunity. (20:30)

HIV Remission after Stem Cell Transplantation – After an allogeneic stem cell transplant, a patient discontinued antiretroviral therapy and sustained HIV remission for over six years. (27:00)

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Dr. Ana Anderson is currently the Albert H. Coons Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Senior Scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Core Faculty Member of the Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation. She talks about her research on immune regulation in cancer and enhancing anti-tumor immunity. (38:33)

CAR Tregs for Atherosclerosis: Anti-oxidized low-density lipoprotein CAR Tregs reduce atherosclerotic plaque formation in mouse models. (2:20)

Tumor-Reactive T Cells: Tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells can be isolated and expanded from clinical samples. (14:24)

Harnessing Myeloid and Lymphoid Synergy for Immunotherapy: Myeloid-targeted immunocytokines and natural killer/T cell enhancers show potential for treating solid cancers. (18:50)

Subcutaneous Fat Affects Intestinal Aging: Subcutaneous white adipose tissue dysfunction triggers aging-like intestinal dysfunctions in mouse models. (32:40)

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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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