Immune – Details, episodes & analysis

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

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• 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 immune@microbe.tv

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.

Guest: Kristian Andersen

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• 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 immune@microbe.tv

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

From the 2024 Society for Leukocyte Biology meeting, Cindy and Brianne talk with Darren Lee to discuss his career, how he got interested in immunology of the eye, and how his team visualizes immune responses of the eye in real time with the hope of better understanding autoimmune uveitis.

Hosts: Cindy Leifer and Brianne Barker

Guest: Darren Lee

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

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• The eye is an immunosuppressive environment (Adv Drug Delivery Rev 2023)
• Tregs control autoimmune uveitis (Sci Rep 2025)
• TIGIT, Tregs, and autoimmune uveitis (J Leuk Biol 2024)
• Society for Leukocyte Biology
• Time stamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks!

Music by Tatami.
Logo image by Blausen Medical

Send your immunology questions and comments to immune@microbe.tv

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

The immunophiles explain how metabolic rewiring of macrophages by CpG promotes clearance of cancer cells.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer

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• Darwin Day
• Metabolic rewiring of macrophages by CpG (Nat Immunol)
• Letters read on Immune 17
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Steph- Pregnant Scholar
Cindy- Anti-vaxxers vaccinating against measles
Vincent- Center for Science in the Public Interest

Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.

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The Immune team turns to chickens, which have been important in understanding the immune system, to show that infection of mature B cells is not required for the pathogenesis of Marek's disease herpesvirus.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer

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Links for this episode

• Role of B cells in Marek's disease pathogenesis (PNAS)
• In ovo vaccination (YouTube)
• First chickens lacking B cells (PNAS)
• Letters read on Immune 16
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Weekly Science Picks

Steph - 7 Days Out
Cindy - Watson PBS documentary and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory response
Vincent - Dads can donate mitochondrial DNA and Chicken puns

Stephanie takes the Immune team on a tour of neutrophils, the most abundant leukocytes in mammals, including tethers and slings, neutrophil rolling, and neutrophil nets.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer

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• Slings enable neutrophil rolling (Nature)
• Sling video (La Jolla Inst Allergy Immunol)
• Neutrophil extracellular traps kill bacteria (Science)
• Neutrophil review (Sci Immunol)
• Image credit
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Steph- Should reviewers remain anonymous?
Cindy- Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Vincent- Initiative to End Paywalls (The Scientist)

Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.

Send your immunology questions and comments to immune@microbe.tv

The Immune team explains the science behind the 2018 Nobel Prizes awarded to Allison and Honjo: checkpoint immunotherapy.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer

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• 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine
• 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine (pdf)
• What's in a name?(Can Res Inst)
• Checkpoint inhibitor failures(Nature)
• Image credit
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Steph- Immunobites
Cindy- List of immunology Nobels
Vincent- Prof. Barker's Immunology lectures

Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.

Send your immunology questions and comments to immune@microbe.tv

The ImmuNerds discuss how a cellular long non-coding RNA binds to an innate RNA sensor and regulates virus-induced interferon production to prevent damage to the host.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer

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• Host lncRNA binds RIG-I (Cell)
• Microbe Art at virology blog
• Letters read on Immune 13
• Time stamps by Jolene. Thanks!

Steph- That's Pediatrics Podcast
Cindy- Trilobite Glassworks
Vincent- Research!America

Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.

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The Immune trifecta explores systems immunology, and its use in a study of immune system development in newborn children.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer

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• Immune system development in newborns (Cell)
• Dead parrots and live wildcats (TWiV 185)
• Pathogenesis card game (JAMA)
• Letters read on Immune 12

Steph- Kaleidoscopean
Cindy- 500 women scientists
Vincent- NIH budget increase 2019

Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.

Send your immunology questions and comments to immune@microbe.tv

Cindy and Vincent describe the construction of a gene network that programs mammalian cells to detect and eliminate bacterial infections.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello and Cynthia Leifer

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• Immunomimetic designer cells (Cell)
• Antimicrobial drug resistance (NIH)
• Image credit
• Letters read on Immune 11

Cindy - No Tdap link to autism
Vincent- Unpaywall

Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.

Send your immunology questions and comments to immune@microbe.tv