Reprogrammed: A biotechnology Podcast

This interview followed a Keynote speech Dr. Deza Leon gave at the 2026 Hawk Talks Event at KU Edwards Campus on May 1.

This episode looks at two papers, one a 2019 paper by Hassett et al. about optimizing Lipid Nanoparticles specifically for intramuscular mRNA vaccines. And a second, Laczko et al., from 2020, that shows what kind of immune responses you can get from nucleoside-modified mRNA-LNP after a single shot in mice. Together, these explain why mRNA vaccines aren’t just ‘RNA magic.’ They’re a delivery story,...

This episode discusses the 2005 Kariko et al. paper about RNA immunogenicity.

I n this episode, we explain why influenza is such a persistent threat—its segmented RNA genome enables antigenic drift and reassortment-driven “shift,” letting it change faster than traditional vaccines can be manufactured. We thenwalk through Petsch et al. (2012), showing that synthetic mRNA vaccines elicit functional anti-HA antibodies measured by HAI, protect mice from lethal influenza challen...

mRNA vaccines: when the call is coming from inside the house, discusses how the immune system knows what's going on inside of cells and how specific that knowledge is. This episode explains MHC Haplotype and how MHC restriction limits the targets of CTLs.

This episode explores an early mRNA vaccination study showing that injected RNA can be injected into the body, be translated into protein that is presented on MHC class I to generate an antigen-specific cytotoxic T-cell respons. This discussion highlights how researchers moved from simply proving in-vivo protein expression to demonstrating that nucleic acids themselves could function as immunogens...

This week on  Reprogrammed , Jack and Annie tackle a key limitation in CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors: poor trafficking to the tumor site. Centered on the 2010 study by Craddock et al., this episode explores how engineering T cells to express the chemokine receptor CCR2b—matching the tumor’s secretion of CCL2—can dramatically improve tumor infiltration without sacrificing cytotoxic function....

In this episode, we examine the work of Roselli et al.1, who explore a critical frontier in CAR T cell engineering: how to build T cells that don’t just kill tumors effectively, but also survive, persist, and adapt in the complex and hostile environments characteristic of solid tumors and relapsing hematologic malignancies. Building on themes from earlier episodes—such as the impact of co-stimulat...

Over the past episodes of Reprogrammed , we’ve followed the rapid evolution of CAR T cell therapy—from early experiments demonstrating that antibody-based chimeric receptors could trigger T cell activation and IL-2 production, to the incorporation of co-stimulatory domains like CD28 and 4-1BB that dramatically improved T cell survival and cytotoxic efficacy. In this episode of Reprogrammed , Jack...

Over the past episodes of  Reprogrammed , we’ve followed the rapid evolution of CAR T cell therapy—from early experiments demonstrating that antibody-based chimeric receptors could trigger T cell activation and IL-2 production, to the incorporation of co-stimulatory domains like CD28 and 4-1BB that dramatically improved T cell survival and cytotoxic efficacy. In episode 5, we saw how CD28 co-stimu...

Reprogrammed is a biotechnology podcast exploring the development of cell therapies, with this season focusing on CAR T cells in cancer treatment. The Brentjens et al. (2013) study marked a pivotal moment in the clinical application of CAR T therapy, demonstrating for the first time that second-generation CD19 CAR T cells incorporating a CD28 co-stimulatory domain could induce molecular remission...

This podcast delves into the exciting world of cancer immunotherapy, focusing on the evolution of cancer vaccines and the recent surge of cell-based therapies. This series follows a string of primary research papers highlighting the most impactful advances in CAR T Cell therapy. It is a companion to a KU Edwards Campus Biotechnology course, but it contains information interesting to anyone who wan...

This podcast delves into the exciting world of cancer immunotherapy, focusing on the evolution of cancer vaccines and the recent surge of cell-based therapies. This series follows a string of primary research papers highlighting the most impactful advances in CAR T Cell therapy. It is a companion to a KU Edwards Campus Biotechnology course, but it contains information interesting to anyone who wan...

This podcast delves into the exciting world of cancer immunotherapy, focusing on the evolution of cancer vaccines and the recent surge of cell-based therapies. This series follows a string of primary research papers highlighting the most impactful advances in CAR T Cell therapy. It is a companion to a KU Edwards Campus Biotechnology course, but it contains information interesting to anyone who wan...

This is the first paper to demonstrate that plasmid DNA injections elicited humoral immune responses and could therefore function as vaccines.

This episode addresses the question of whether lymphocytes can be harvested, reprogrammed in their specificity for a selected tumor antigen  ex vivo , and then re-administered to the patient to combat their cancer.    The first paper, from 1989, by Gross et al., examines whether a chimeric receptor, forged from the antigen-binding region of an immunoglobulin and the internal signaling elements of...

This episode addresses the question of whether lymphocytes directed against one specific tumor antigen can be manipulated to better combat cancer. The first paper, from 1989, examines cells initially generated in an animal, but then be isolated, activated  ex vivo  and readministering to the animal to see if they will effectively fight against a tumor that was previously not recognized by the immu...

Introduction of key papers:o 1974 article by Israel Penn, MD, on cancer in immune deficiencies.2020 article by Hegde et al. on dendritic cells and immune surveillance.• Framing question:  “Does the immune system operate to protect us against cancer?”

This podcast delves into the exciting world of cancer immunotherapy, focusing on the evolution of cancer vaccines and the recent surge of cell-based therapies. It begins with a brief historical overview, highlighting the discovery of Coley’s toxin, which marked the earliest attempts at cancer vaccination. It then dives into the complexities of therapeutic vaccines, underscoring the challenges pres...

This episode relates to: the 1990 Wolff et al., paper in Science ,247(4949 Pt 1):1465–1468. Direct Gene Transfer into Mouse Muscle in Vivo and the 1993 Ulmer et al., paper in Science , 259(5102):1745–1749. Heterologous protection against influenza by injection of DNAencoding a viral protein.

This podcast refers to a paper by Wang et al., PNAS ,90(9):4156–4160. Gene inoculation generates immune responses against human immunodeficiency virus type 1. 1993.