Immune

On this episode of Immune, the team explores two fortuitous discoveries: caspase inhibitors that hitch a ride through gasdermin D pores to selectively shut down proinflammatory cytokine secretion, and human monoclonal antibodies against malaria that were repurposed to block allergic antibody binding to red meat allergens in alpha-gal syndrome.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, and Brianne Barker

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• GasderminD pores deliver drugs (Nature, 2026)
• Potential alpha-gal syndrome treatment (J Clin Immunol, 2026)
• 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.

Tulika Singh joins Immune at AAI2026 to talk about the international partnerships that advance research on immunity to emerging flaviviruses and her research on the impact of prior Zika virus infection on susceptibility to Dengue virus disease.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Tulika Singh

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Harris Research Lab
• 2025 STAT Wunderkind award to Dr. Singh
• Neutralization of Zika with IgM developed in pregnancy (Cell, 2022)
• Infection history shapes Dengue response (Nat Comm, 2024)
• Longitudinal profiling of antibodies following Dengue infection (Nat Comm, 2026)
• Exposure to Zika and risk for Dengue (Sci Transl Med, 2024)
• AAI Public Policy Fellows Program
• 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.

Carla Rothlin joins Immune at AAI2026 to talk about her career studying inflammation regulation and how she co-founded the Global Immunotalks virtual seminar series.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Carla Rothlin

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• TAM receptor signaling in immune homeostasis (Annu Rev Immunol, 2015)
• MerTk in retinal pigment epithelial cells (Sci Adv, 2023)
• Modifiers determine MerTk function (Elife, 2022)
• Re-evaluating MerTk knockout mice (Int J Mol Sci, 2024)
• TAMs for checkpoint blockade in cancer therapy (Immunol Rev, 2017)
• Global Immunotalks on YouTube
• 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.

Immune tackles papers on the breadth of human B cell responses following mRNA vaccination and on the role of mitochondria and reactive oxygen species in plasma B cell maintenance.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, Stephanie Langel, and Brianne Barker

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• mRNA flu vaccine expands B cell breadth (Nat Immunol, 2026)
• Mitochondrial ROS and plasma cells (Nat Commun, 2026)
• 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.

Tanya Mayadas joins Immune to talk about her road to study neutrophils and her research findings on neutrophil antigen presentation and novel neutrophil targeting therapies.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Tanya Mayadas

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Tanya recently appointed department chair and director
• Neutrophils, von Willebrand factor and P-selectin (Cell, 1991)
• P-selectin knockout mouse (Cell, 1993)
• Neutrophils as antigen presenting cells in cancer (Nat Comm, 2021)
• Neutrophils elicit broad anti-tumor immunity (Cancer Res Comm, 2026)
• FcR-mediated neutrophil recruitment (Circulation, 2009)
• Neutrophil classification and heterogeneity (Immunity, 2025)
• Neutrophils in Lupus (Curr Op Rheumatol, 2019)
• 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.

Adam Waickman discusses the unusual reason he got into studying immunology just in humans, his important studies on Dengue virus vaccine antibodies, and the problematic phenomenon of antibody dependent enhancement.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Adam Waickman

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Waickman Lab Website
• Dengue virus human infection model (Sci Trans Med, 2022)
• mRNA vectored antibody against Dengue (Antiviral Res, 2025)
• B cell receptor enhancement of Dengue (PLoS Path, 2024)
• Dengue infection macrophage transcriptional profiles (J Virol, 2025)
• 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.

Immune reviews new research that shows a boost in T cell function after eating and the potential for the cGAS-STING pathway to be a new lupus therapeutic target.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, Stephanie Langel, and Brianne Barker

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• T cell immunity boosted after eating (Nature, 2026)
• Inhibiting autoimmunity through TLR7-cGAS (Nat Comm, 2026)
• 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.

Stacy Horner discusses her work on innate detection of viruses, viral countermeasures, and the role of m(6)A RNA modifications in regulating antiviral immunity.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Stacy Horner

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Hepatitis virus proteases block host response (J Virol, 2012)
• Host RNA binds to MAVS (Science, 2024)
• m6A modifications modify innate response to viruses (Cell Chem Biol, 2024)
• UFMylation coordinates MAVS assembly for antiviral responses (bioRxiv, 2025)
• 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.

Scott Smith talks about his research on cloned individual antibodies and how those studies have shifted his thoughts on the role of IgE in parasite defense and food allergy.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Scott Smith

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Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Complement control proteins in poxvirus evasion (J Virol, 2000)
• Complement control protein reduces xenotransplant rejection (Transpl Proc, 2002)
• Engineering therapeuticantibodies (J Allergy Clin Immunol, 2023)
• Antigens in peanut allergy anaphylaxis (J Allergy Clin Immunol, 2025)
• Using human antibodies to identify parasiteantigens (J Allergy Clin Immunol, 2022)
• 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.

Kathryn Knoop and Marion Brunck join the Immune team to talk about their research and their podcast "Mucosal Immunology".

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, Stephanie Langel, and Brianne Barker

Guests: Kathryn Knoop and Marion Brunck

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Knoop: Oral tolerance in early life review
• Knoop: Gamma delta T cells in neonatal sepsis
• Knoop: EGF and IgA in breastmilk
• Brunck: FcGR's in PMNS
• Brunck: CRISPR KO to study FcGR's in human PMN
• Brunck: Leukocytes in breastmilk review
• Mucosal Immunology podcast
• 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.

Jenna Guthmiller talks about how she became interested in immunology and her exciting research on how different responses to vaccines and infection shape future responses to infection.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Jenna Guthmiller

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Broadly neutralizing flu antibodies (Nature, 2022)
• First exposure antibodies to H1N1 flu (Sci Transl Med, 2021)
• Long lasting B cells to chimeric flu vaccine (Immunity, 2025)
• Vaccine strategies to target HA anchor epitope (Nat Comm, 2025)
• Pre-existing immunity shapes fluresponse (Sci Trans Med, 2020)
• From Immune 35: SARS-CoV-2 infection severity linked to anti-spike (mBio, 2021)
• Guthmiller lab
• 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.

Immune discusses a snippet on how EBV infection alters the immunopeptidome and promotes multiple sclerosis, and a paper on head and neck cancers harboring bacteria that create an immunosuppressive environment and promote immunotherapy resistance.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, Stephanie Langel, and Brianne Barker

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• EBV, Golli-MBP presentation and multiple sclerosis (Cell, 2026)
• Intratumoral bacteria promote resistance to cancer immunotherapy (Nat Cancer, 2026)
• 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.

Gabriel Nunez discusses the discovery of NOD-like receptors, NOD1 and NOD2, in inflammatory bowel disease and how travel and taking a moment to enjoy local culture and art influences his creativity.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: GabrielNuñez

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• HLA andantigen presentation (Hum Immunol, 1987)
• Bcl2, cell death, and B cells (Nature, 1991)
• Discovery of NOD1 (J Biol Chem, 1999)
• Discovery of NOD2 (J Biol Chem, 2001)
• Mutation in NOD2 and connection to Crohn's disease (Nature, 2001)
• 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.

Martha Alexander-Miller discusses why newborn and infant immune responses to vaccines are generally less effective and how we can make vaccines safer and more effective.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Martha Alexander-Miller

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Flu HA nanoparticle vaccine (Nat Comm, 2025)
• Sex-dependent adjuvant activity in newborns (Vaccines, 2024)
• Flu vaccine with R848 adjuvant (Vaccines, 2023)
• 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 Immune team talks about two papers on the effect of sleep and environment on seasonal allergies.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, and Brianne Barker

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Sleep is needed for condition dependent allergic responses (PNAS, 2020)
• Original paper on allergy to artificialhttp://j.%20n.xn--%20mackenzie,%20the%20production%20of%20the%20so-called%20rose%20cold%20by%20means%20of%20an%20artificial%20rose-jr06eud.%20am.%20j.%20med.%20sci.xn--%20181,%204556%20(1886)-8m2n./rose (Am. J. Med. Sci. 181, 45–56 (1886))
• One of multiple personalities allergic (Am J Clin Hypn, 1983)
• Environmentally driven immune imprinting protectsagainstallergy(Nature, 2026)
• News and Views onimmune imprinting paper (Nature, 2026)
• Immune 90 discussion of "dirty mice"
• 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.

Matters Microbial #130: The Holobiont — Animals, Microbes, and Ecology May 19, 2026

Today Dr. Kevin Kohl, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss how he and his colleagues study the interplay between animals, their resident gut microbes, and the overarching concept of the holobiont.

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest:Kevin Kohl

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify

Become a patron of Matters Microbial!

Links for this episode

• The One Health Microbiome Center at Pennsylvania State University.
• A very fine essay on the holobiont concept for non-microbiologists.
• A general introductory overview of the holobiont concept.
• The holobiont concept and the coral symbiosis.
• A partial history of the development of the holobiont concept.
• Dr. Casadevall suggests that context and thus outcomes describes the term "pathogen," and a similar analysis applies to the holobiont.
• A very short description of the holobiont concept.
• Another overview of the holobiont concept in general, coauthored by Dr. Kohl.
• Some basic rules for thinking about the holobiont concept.
• A video introduction to the holobiont concept, by Dr. Seth Bordenstein.
• I highly recommend this essay by the science writer Carl Zimmer, "The Human Lake," to think of the connections between lake ecology and microbial interactions with humans.
• Another wonderful article recommended by Dr. Kohl, by Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai and coauthors, detailing the impact microbes have on animals over evolution and development.
• The wood rat – creosote – microbiome connection to the holobiont concept, discussed on this podcast (coauthored by Dr. Kohl).
• The fascinating work by Dr. Kohl and colleagues showing the relationship between tadpole development and pond microbes discussed in this podcast.
• A must read article by Dr. Kohl and colleagues, "Through the microbial looking glass: our shifting understanding of the holobiont and microbes as mediators of organismal biology," illustrates the development and influence of the holobiont concept.
• Dr. Richard Prum's book, "Performance All the Way Down," was discussed during this podcast. There is also a video where Dr. Prum discusses the ideas in this book, describing gene regulation as a performance.
• Dr. Kohl's faculty website.
• Dr. Kohl's (very interesting) research website.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

Send your questions and comments to mattersmicrobial@gmail.com

Nicholas Jackson, AKA Nick the Immunologist, talks about being a graduate student, social media creator, and his research on cytokine tools to investigate regulatory T cells.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Nicholas Jackson (Nick the Immunologist)

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Richard DiPaolo lab
• IL-2, TGFb and Tregs preprint
• Nick the Immunologist on TikTok
• Nick the Immunologist on Instagram
• 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.

Luke O'Neill recounts his role in discovering key components of the TLR signaling pathway, explains how pursuing unexpected research questions keeps him motivated, and reflects on his experiences as an entrepreneur founding biotech companies.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Luke O'Neill

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• O'Neill lab
• Identification of MAL in the TLR signaling pathway (Nature, 2001)
• GDF 15, immunometabolism and anti-inflammatories (An Rev Pharmacol Tox, 2026)
• Itaconate and regulation of inflammation (Nat Metab, 2024)
• 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.

George Stark from the Cleveland Clinic reflects on his early training in biochemistry and how several sabbatical leaves sparked pivotal changes in his research trajectory, eventually drawing him to interferon signaling where he helped establish the core principles of the JAK–STAT pathway and uncovered interesting roles for interferon signaling in cancer.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: George Stark

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Stark lab
• Development of the Northern blotting technique (PNAS, 1977)
• Development of Western blotting for proteins (PNAS, 1979)
• Discovery of Tyk2 as a critical kinase in interferon response (Cell, 1992)
• Topical PALA treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer (Exp Dermatol, 2023)
• 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 Immune team talks all about cytokines, from what they are to immunotherapies against them to treat diseases.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cindy Leifer, and Brianne Barker

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

Links for this episode

• MicrobeTV Discord Server
• Non-specific virus neutralization by IgM and complement (mBio 2026)
• Natural antibodies against viruses (Virology blog, 2009)
• Biologics against inflammatory cytokines (Int J Cell Bio, 2016)
• Biologics against allergic cytokines(JACI, 2022)
• 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.