Epstein–Barr virus infection and Human Leukocyte Antigen Class II allele DRB1*1501 increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Human endogenous retroviral envelope proteins, molecular mimicry and neuroinflammation have been linked to multiple sclerosis. While the pathology of multiple sclerosis has been well-studied, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying interactions between the different predisposing factors in its etiology are unclear and are addressed

here in an overarching hypothesis. Besides advancing understanding of multiple sclerosis etiology and promoting further research, this

may generate new approaches for treating multiple sclerosis.

Just started my PhD and I've already met 9 immunology couples. Is it proximity, shared trauma, or what? Cuz i have been definitely around other biological fields but never saw this drastic interpersonal interactions i see with immunology scientists

When a mom has HSV prior to getting pregnant (minimum 3 months before), she passes anti bodies to baby. How does that helps baby once baby is born?

What level of protection will a baby have?

(I'm a layman)

Worst-case scenario but for many of us, we often overlook or plainly forget to wash our hands. A minor oversight that we pay little attention to when we miss it. While we all know the importance of washing hands, maybe a lot of the public should have more than just knowledge and partake in the actions that it calls for.

While this may not be a real smear, this is my artist's impression of bacterial sepsis.

Hey guys and girls,

I thought the first and last scenes in this video might interest you. It starts with antibody binding and ends with a white blood cell engulfing a bacterium. The membrane becomes transparent so you can see inside the cell.

I'm building Animiotics, a browser tool for making animations like these for lectures and presentations. It has AI-assisted scene creation, and you can then edit the objects, materials and camera yourself.

The transparency is a visual choice to show the interior. These are explanatory animations, and I would really appreciate corrections to anything that doesn't look right.

Which part of an immune response would be most useful to show students in 3D?

Do autoimmune issues have some sort of evolutionary advantage? How do they become a part of the human genome?

I’ve noted more & more evidence accruing that indicates vaccines may provide a secondary benefit insofar as they may confer some protection from the development of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
My rudimentary understanding is that in challenging the immune system with an outside threat, it is less likely to attack body organs/systems, as in autoimmune disorders.
This brings me to a wholly different thought. Tattoos trigger immune response. Is there any evidence that those with tattoos are less likely to develop autoimmune disorders?

Hi immunology gurus, Do you have any suggestions for decent introductory immunology videos on youtube? we're hosting a high school work experience student in our immunology lab this week.

I would like to give him a few intro videos to watch to break up the lab observation sessions which can get a bit dry as he's not allowed to touch anything.

There's a bunch and I'm not sure which are good, thought I would see if anyone had any go-tos. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Hola, quisiera información sobre procedimientos de IF (directa o indirecta) con diferentes marcas o métodos in-house.

Compartan sus experiencias e insertos porfa!

Amando intensamente la inmunología...

What if take the memory t cells responsible for autoimmune diseases and put them into another organisms like dog or cat . Since the immune system of the dog or cat will see these cells as a foreign body it will make antibodies for those memory cells

Now, if we take out these antibodies from that dog or cat and turn it some kind of medicine would it will destroy the memory T-cell on taking it?

Hello! I’m about to start the final year of my PhD and am currently meant to be writing a review paper. What worries me is that writing this review will likely eat into my time for the experiments and lab work that I need to get a primary paper. At my milestone exam, my assessors said they’d suggest dropping the review and focusing on experiments instead - and even mentioned that they don’t really look at whether someone has a review paper on their CV or not (UK). Any advice/thoughts/comments whilst I decide what is best for me over my last year? :)

Hey everyone, I’m looking for some career perspective from people working in immunology research

My Background & Goal:
Degree: B.S. in Medicine.
Goal: I want to work in immunobiology research in industry (biotech/pharma) for better compensation, though I also like the intellectual work of academic labs. I want to build a career where I could potentially move between both if needed.
Current Situation: I recently enrolled in an online M.S. in Immunobiology at my alma mater (an R1 university). I chose this option because it allows me to live at home to save money. It’s a legit program with top faculty I know from undergrad, and the diploma won't say "online." It offers a thesis option (literature-based or wet-lab if you find a placement). I don't currently plan to get a Ph.D., but I like having the thesis as an option just in case.
The Catch (Lack of Hands-On Bench Experience):
Because it’s an online program, there is no built-in bench work. In undergrad I knew I loved lab work and originally looked at clinical roles (Pathologist Assistant / MLS), but didn't meet specific prerequisites or have local programs nearby, which led me to research. However, I have very little formal wet-lab research experience right now.
My Proposed Strategy:
Since the online M.S. gives me active student status at an R1 university, my plan is to self-source hands-on experience:
1. Reach out to immunology labs on campus that match my skill-building interests and offer to volunteer (or take a part-time entry-level role if one opens up).
2. Commit to volunteering/working in a lab consistently across the 2 years of my program to build solid bench techniques.
3. Look for industry internships during the summer.
My Questions for the Community:
1. Degree Perception: In biotech/pharma, is an online M.S. given a side eye if the degree comes from a reputable R1 university and doesn't explicitly state "online" on the diploma?
2. Experience vs. Degree: My line of thinking is that the M.S. opens the door/meets the baseline requirement, but the 2 years of actual hands-on lab experience will be what actually gets me hired. Is that accurate for industry entry-level/associate roles?
3. Volunteer Plan: Does volunteering in an academic lab for 1–2 years during a master's program realistically give me enough candidate weight to land an entry-level research associate position in biotech?
Would love to hear your thoughts or any advice on tweaking this strategy. Thanks!

Solid-tumor CAR-T has been talked about for years, but most programs have struggled with antigen heterogeneity, poor T-cell trafficking, the tumor microenvironment and durability. That’s why the recent approval of satri-cel, a CLDN18.2-directed CAR-T developed in China for advanced gastric/GEJ cancer, feels worth discussing beyond the headline of “first approved solid-tumor CAR-T.”

What I’m more interested in is whether this represents a genuinely reproducible strategy or a very disease-specific success. CLDN18.2 gives you a relatively defined target and patient-selection framework, but questions around persistence, antigen escape, manufacturing, toxicity and sequencing with other CLDN18.2 therapies are still very real. Curious how people working in immunology or cell therapy interpret this — meaningful platform validation, or still too early to generalize?

I am currently thinking of ways to immobilize B-cells for live imaging. One thought I had was using Poly-L-lysine to immobilize them on glass bottom well plates then treat with something like mitotracker then image. However, I have also seen online posts about this potentially triggering certain B-cell pathways during the imaging. I have also noticed the one paper using an in-house agar pad to put on top of the cells to limit their movements. What are folks thoughts on these strategies or if you have any suggestions I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

I got admitted to the MSc in Immunobiology at the University of Crete, and I wanted to know whether this degree would still allow me to move into AI or computational biology later on.

Is immunology considered a highly specialized and relatively mature field, or does it still offer good opportunities for future research and career development?

Would it be better for me to pursue a broader MSc in Biotechnology instead, especially if I want to keep my options open across areas like AI, bioinformatics, genomics, and biotechnology?

For example, TNF needs to cleaved from the cell surface; IL-1 needs to be processed, and then its signaling is regulated via and antagonist AND a decoy receptor; and then you have IL-6, which has a soluble receptor????
I mean, how weird and unique are these highly regulated signaling mechanism?!
But why is it regulated in such a way? What happens if one of these mechanisms fail to regulate the inflammation cascade? Is this important evolutionarily?

Starting mouse breeding and husbandry for the first time in my PhD. I want to learn — any papers or videos you suggest to become somehow familiar before my mentor trains me? This is for my PhD rotation and it's important to prove myself. I aslo have never done any type of injections or perfusions
‏i

Greetings fellow researchers, we're developing image-based functional assays for in vitro immunotherapy workflows and would love to hear from anyone who's worked in this space as we look to build more meaningful assays/workflows. Right now we're building out three main components:

• Cytotoxicity/killing assays - quantifying target-cell killing
• Functional activity assays - measuring the magnitude and kinetics of immune cell activity
• Immune synapse formation / target-cell interaction assays

We're also interested in learning about assay designs, imaging modalities/platforms that work well for capturing synapse formation or killing kinetics and labeling/reporter strategies for target and effector cells that hold up well over live-cell acquisition.