Immune

Latest Episodes:

Immune Booster 24: Tolerating pregnancy with Gabrielle Rizzuto Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Gabrielle Rizzuto from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discusses her work on the curious immunology of pregnancy and how a woman tolerates a genetically different baby but quickly rejects a mismatched organ donation.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Gabrielle Rizzuto

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

Links for this episode

MicrobeTV Discord Server
Rizzuto lab at MSKCC
Tolerance at the fetal-maternal interface (Nature, 2022)
The paradox of fetal-maternal tolerance (J Exp Med, 2022)
Spatially resolved timeline of fetal-maternal interface (Nature, 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.

Immune 101: Ink and immunity Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

Immune discusses how tattoo ink accumulates in lymph nodes, promotes inflammation and influences response to two different vaccines.

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
IL-9, CAR T cells and anti-tumor CD8 cells
Tattoo ink, inflammation and vaccines
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.

Immune Booster 23: Critical windows during immune system development with Anna Beaudin Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Anna Beaudin from University of Utah talks about the key thread of her career, development, and how that influences her research on the events happening during critical prenatal windows shapes everything from the developing immune system to hearing loss.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Anna Beaudin

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

Links for this episode

MicrobeTV Discord Server
Beaudin lab at University of Utah
PhD work on metabolism and development
Postdoc work on hematopoietic stem cells
Maternal inflammation and hematopoietic stem cell development
Prenatal inflammation effect on postnatal immunity
Early life inflammation and hearing loss
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 Booster #22 T cell signaling and selection with Leslie Berg Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

Leslie Berg talks about her career studying T cell receptor signaling, T cell development, and the importance of mentors in her career.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Leslie Berg

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

Links for this episode

MicrobeTV Discord Server
Berg lab at University of Colorado Anschutz
TCR thresholds and ITK (PNAS)
Review on TCR signaling (Nat Immunol)
Generation of TCR transgenic mice (Mol Cell Bio)
T cell negative selection in TCR transgenic mice (Nature)
Thymic exit of mature T cells in TCR transgenic mice (Cell)
AAI past president Berg information
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 100: Immune turns 100! Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

The whole Immune gang gathers with special guests Gretchen Diehl and Shruti Naik at The Incubator with an audience to celebrate the 100th episode.

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

Guests: Gretchen Diehl and Shruti Naik

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

Links for this episode

MicrobeTV Discord Server
Diehl: Gut microbe-specific T cell development (Nature 2021)
Diehl: Bacteria-induced IL-1 is gut protective (Gut Microbes 2022)
Diehl: Microbiota, macrophages, IL10, and colitis (Gut Microbes 2022)
Diehl: E. coli-activated circuit restrains gut inflammation (Cell Rep 2025)
Naik: Commensals control skin inflammation (Science 2012)
Naik: IL-17 and hypoxic stress during skin repair (Science 2022)
Naik: Human psoriasis and spatial transcriptomics (Sci Immunol 2023)
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.

Immune Booster 21: Origins of antigen receptors with David Schatz Jan 13, 2026

Show notes

David Schatz talks about his discovery of Rag genes that are critical for antigen receptor development and how that discovery depended on taking high risks and using approaches that everyone thought could never work.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: David Schatz

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

Links for this episode

MicrobeTV Discord Server
Transfer of recombinase activity in non-lymphoid cells (Cell 1988)
Identification of the RAG-1 gene (Cell 1989)
Evolution of a recombinase (Semin Immunol 2004)
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 99: A Nobel for immune tolerance Dec 30, 2025

Show notes

The Immune team discusses the groundbreaking discoveries of regulatory T cells, which was the topic of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

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
Sakaguchi lab paper on FoxP3 and regulatory T cells (Science 2003)
Brunkow and Ramsdell description of scurfy mouse mutation (Nature 2001)
Nobel Prize writeup on Treg discoveries
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.

Immune Booster 20: Lipid GPS for T cells with Susan Schwab Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

Susan Schwab talks about how she got the research bug, bugs she ate, and her research on how the lipid S1P helps T cells decide- should I stay or should I go.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Susan Schwab

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

Links for this episode

MicrobeTV Discord Server
Schwab lab website
Monocytes produce the lipid S1P to regulate T cell movement
Review on S1P and immune cell migration
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 98: T cells on the brain Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

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

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

Links for this episode

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.

Immune Booster 19: Virus-immune Tug-of-war with Kristian Andersen Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

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.

Host: Cindy Leifer

Guest: Kristian Andersen

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

Links for this episode