Jim Heath with Jingyi Xie in a conference room

New Research Uncovers Hidden Rules of Immune Response

Scientists at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) reveal how T cells "decide" their fate in fighting infections like COVID-19, paving the way for improved treatments for infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

New Research Uncovers Hidden Rules of Immune Response
New Research Uncovers Hidden Rules of Immune Response
screenshot of virtual video call

Common Immune Response Protective Across Many Diseases

Infection, autoimmunity and cancer account for 40 percent of deaths worldwide. In a Cell Reports paper, ISB researchers detail how the human immune system works in common ways across diseases – findings that offer promising avenues for exploring multi-disease therapeutic strategies.

Common Immune Response Protective Across Many Diseases
Common Immune Response Protective Across Many Diseases
screenshot of video for Breakthrough T Cell Discovery Has Huge Potential for Engineering Custom Immune Responses

Breakthrough T Cell Discovery Has Huge Potential for Engineering Custom Immune Responses

In a breakthrough discovery that changes how we understand T cells and with implications of how we can better engineer custom immune responses to fight disease, Institute for Systems Biology researchers showed that the different disease-fighting functions of different T cells are determined by the genetically encoded T-cell receptor sequence that are unique to those cells.

Breakthrough T Cell Discovery Has Huge Potential for Engineering Custom Immune Responses
Breakthrough T Cell Discovery Has Huge Potential for Engineering Custom Immune Responses
screenshot of video for Heath PACT

How Immune Cells ‘See’ and Respond to Mutations in Cancer Cells

In a just-published paper in the journal Nature, a collaborative team of researchers from ISB, UCLA, PACT Pharma, and beyond analyzed T-cell responses in melanoma patients who were treated with different immune checkpoint inhibitors, and how those responses evolved over time.

How Immune Cells ‘See’ and Respond to Mutations in Cancer Cells
How Immune Cells ‘See’ and Respond to Mutations in Cancer Cells
screenshot of video for Ginny Ruffner and Dr. Jim Heath Explore the Intersection of Art and Science

Ginny Ruffner and Dr. Jim Heath Explore the Intersection of Art and Science

Renowned artist Ginny Ruffner and ISB President Dr. Jim Heath delivered a lecture at Town Hall Seattle about the intersection of art and science. They spoke about how creation stories tie scientists and artists together, and how their approaches are both similar and different from that point on.

Ginny Ruffner and Dr. Jim Heath Explore the Intersection of Art and Science
Ginny Ruffner and Dr. Jim Heath Explore the Intersection of Art and Science
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