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

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.

Registration for IMMUNOLOGY2025 opens December 10!

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