The Immunology Podcast

Guest: Dr. Merav Cohen is a Principal Investigator at Tel Aviv University. She discusses how her lab uses single-cell technologies to decode communication between immune cells and their surrounding tissues. She explores how physical interactions can reprogram macrophages and neutrophils, how these cells communicate with tumor cells, and how cellular crosstalk can promote angiogenesis, tumor growth...

Guest: Dr. Roger Geiger is a Group Leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Bellinzona, Switzerland, and leads a research group at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany. He discusses how his lab studies the metabolic regulation of T cell function and explores engineering bacteria to deliver therapeutic payloads directly to tumors. He also explains how arginine metabolism can...

Guest: Dr. Martin Prlic is a Professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutch Cancer Center. He discusses the challenges of studying human immunology and how his lab uses advanced single-cell technologies to understand T cell responses across healthy, inflamed, and tumor tissues. He also explores the biology of tissue-resident T cells, how inflammation shapes their function,...

Guest: Dr. Miriam Merad is Director of the Precision Immunology Institute and a Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She discusses how myeloid progenitors and macrophages shape the tumor microenvironment, and how dendritic cells support tertiary lymphoid structures and anti-tumor immunity. She also explores the role of chronic inflammation in aging and disease, and shares her...

Guest: Dr. Pere Santamaria is a Professor at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary and Group Leader at the Barcelona Institute. He discusses how his lab studies the mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases, with a focus on regulatory T cell biology and antigen-specific immune tolerance. He also explains how his team developed a nanomedicine platform that reprograms autoreact...

Guest: Dr. Brian Brown is a Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He discusses how his lab develops innovative technologies to study the immune system and advance new therapeutics, from T cell engineering to mRNA-based medicines. He also explores how microRNA-guided targeting can improve the precision of mRNA therapeutics, how different tissues shape immune responses, and the i...

Guest: Dr. Andrew Hogan is a Professor and Principal Investigator of the Obesity Immunology Research Group at Maynooth University. He discusses how obesity drives chronic inflammation and immune dysfunction, increasing the risk of diseases such as diabetes and cancer, while highlighting the immune system’s role in disease progression. He also explains how GLP-1 therapies improve both metabol...

Guest: Dr. Marco Orecchioni is an Assistant Professor at Augusta University. He discusses how olfactory receptors — best known for detecting smells — also function in innate immune cells such as macrophages, where they help sense chemical cues in the tissue environment. He highlights how these receptors regulate inflammation, metabolism, and immune cell behavior in diseases such as atherosclerosis...

Guest: Dr. Shabaana Khader is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Chicago. She discusses how the immune system responds to Mycobacterium tuberculosis , why tuberculosis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and the challenges of developing more effective vaccines. She highlights the role of lung-resident immunity, including Th17 response...

Guest: Dr. Samuel Nobs is an Assistant Professor and Group Leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Switzerland. He discusses how microbes in the lungs and gut may shape respiratory immunity and influence susceptibility to infections and chronic lung diseases. He highlights his lab’s work to uncover the mechanisms behind these interactions using microbiome analysis and advanced exper...

Guest: Dr. Tullia Bruno is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. She discusses how B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures shape anti-tumor immunity within solid tumors, challenging the traditional T cell–centric view of cancer immunology. She highlights how these immune niches influence responses to immunotherapy, the importance of spatial organization within the tumor microenv...

Guest: Dr. Alfred Singer is a Senior Investigator at the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research. He discusses his pioneering work on thymus development and T cell differentiation, including how T cells are selected to become CD4 helper or CD8 cytotoxic cells through MHC-restricted signaling. He shares the evolution of key concepts in the field, such as the “kinetic signaling” model o...

In April 2026, we attended IMMUNOLOGY2026 , the annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists, in Boston. We spoke with delegates about their research and impressions of the meeting, including why they attended, the most memorable science they encountered, and their experiences in Boston. Featured Products and Resources: Stay up-to-date with the latest in cell therapy news. Access a...

Guest: This special episode was recorded in front of a live audience at IMMUNOLOGY2026 in Boston. Brenda and Jason sit down with Dr. Charles Sentman, Director of the Center for Synthetic Immunity at Dartmouth College, and Dr. Giulia Escobar, Director of Pre-Clinical Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, to explore new strategies aimed at overcoming the unique challenges of treating solid tum...

Guest: In April 2026, we attended IMMUNOLOGY2026 , the annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Boston, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the last of five special episodes from the meeting. Jason and Brenda discuss highlights from sessions on advances in translational immunology, including immune-targeting strategies for autoi...

Guest: In April 2026, we attended IMMUNOLOGY2026 , the annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Boston, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the fourth of five special episodes from the meeting. Jason and Brenda discuss highlights from talks about immunometabolic dysfunction in disease and neuroimmune interactions in inflammation...

Guest: In April 2026, we attended IMMUNOLOGY2026 , the annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Boston, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the third of five special episodes from the meeting. Brenda and Jason discuss highlights from sessions on obesity, immunometabolism, microbiome-driven immunity, antigen presentation, and new...

Guest: In April 2026, we attended IMMUNOLOGY2026 , the annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Boston, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the second of five special episodes from the meeting. Jason and Brenda cover new insights into microbiome–immune interactions, including bacterial influences on cancer and inflammatory disea...

Guest: In April 2026, we attended IMMUNOLOGY2026 , the annual meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Boston, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the first of five special episodes from the meeting. Brenda and Jason discuss highlights including advances in high-throughput proteomics and multi-omics integration for understanding immune...

Guest: Dr. Amanda Lund is an Associate Professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She discusses how the lymphatic vasculature serves as a critical and dynamic interface between tissues and the immune system, challenging the traditional view of lymphatics as passive conduits. She highlights how lymphatic vessels actively regulate immune responses by controlling fluid flow, antigen transport,...

Guest: Dr. Mansour Haeryfar is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at Western University. The Haeryfar Lab is dedicated to advancing our understanding of both conventional and innate-like invariant T cell responses in health and disease. Their research focuses on mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, with particular emphasis on exploring their therapeutic potentia...

Guest: Dr. Daniel Peeper is a Professor in Functional Oncogenomics at VU University Amsterdam, heading the Department of Molecular Oncology & Immunology and chairing the Research Faculty Council Board at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. His lab employs function-based, genome-wide screens and other advanced technologies to develop concepts for rational combinatorial cancer treatment, targeting...

Guest: Dr. Ido Amit is a Principal Investigator and the Eden and Steven Romick Professorial Chair at the Weizmann Institute of Science. His lab is at the forefront of developing and applying cutting-edge single-cell genomics technologies alongside advanced computational approaches. By integrating these innovative tools in both animal models and human studies, his team uncovers the immune regulator...

Guest: Dr. Sharon Lewin is the Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, where her team studies HIV. She talks about the current landscape in HIV research and treatments, and how new therapies could target latent viral reservoirs. Featured Products and Resources: Register now for IMMUNOLOGY2026 ! Make the Easy Choice. Try EasySep to Win! The Immunology Science Round Up Im...

Guest: Dr. Rafi Ahmed is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Director of the Emory Vaccine Center at Emory University. He talks about his early work on memory T cells and its applications in autoimmune diseases and cancer. Featured Products and Resources: Register now for IMMUNOLOGY2026 ! Request Your Free EasySep Sample and Enter for a Chance to Win Prizes Worth U...