Ep. 94: “Engineering Immunity” Featuring Dr. Lili Yang

Guest:

Dr. Lili Yang is a Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research centers on deciphering the molecular mechanisms regulating anti-cancer immune responses, exploiting knowledge to develop novel immunotherapies for treating cancer, and translating these new cancer immunotherapies from bench to bedside. She talks about engineering off-the-shelf immunotherapies to fight cancer and generating CAR-NKT cells from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. She also discusses the role of serotonin and how SSRIs can affect cancer therapy efficacy.

Featured Products and Resources:

• Registration for IMMUNOLOGY2025 opens December 10!
• The 19th International Congress of Immunology to be held in Vienna from August 17-22, 2025!

The Immunology Science Round Up

Preventing Apoptosis – Apoptosis inhibition by NLRP3 activators is due to their effects on mitochondria rather than inflammasome activation.

SARS-CoV-2 Spike Proteins in the Brain – SARS-CoV-2 spike protein persists in the skull-meninges-brain axis in COVID-19 patients.

CAR T to Protect Transplanted Beta Cells – hPSCs and Tregs can be co-engineered to protect hPSC-derived cells from immune rejection upon transplantation.

Endogenous Retrovirus Antibodies – An antibody produced by endogenous retrovirus-reactive B cells recognized glycans of a broad range of enveloped viruses.

Image courtesy of Dr. Lili Yang