Immunology

Everybody gets older, but not everyone ages in the same way. In this episode, Steven Strogatz speaks with Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal, two biomedical researchers who study the aging process.

Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist who became a lifeline for the worried and the curious during the pandemic, thinks that nasal spray vaccines could be the next needed breakthrough in our fight against the coronavirus.

While it’s understandable to focus on the diseases affecting humans, it’s important to study how our illnesses may affect animals.

The immune system protects us from a full spectrum of pathogens, but without balance, it can end up hurting us over time, too. The immunologist Shruti Naik explains how our defenses can turn on us.

Studies that map the adaptive value of viral mutations hint at how the COVID-19 pandemic might progress next.

No matter how much we’d like to eradicate SARS-CoV-2, it may be better to settle for other forms of control.

The brain not only helps to regulate immune responses, but also stores and retrieves “memories” of them.

Other diseases with long-term symptoms can help us understand how COVID can affect us long after the virus itself is gone.

Glycans, the complex sugars that stud cellular surfaces, are like a language that life uses to mediate vital interactions. Researchers are learning how to read their meaning.