This is obviously a difficult thing to do. Seasonal flu vaccines are designed to protect against a virus that constantly mutates and recombines in animals. The efficacy of these seasonal vaccines are quite low; ranging from about 15 to 60 percent. Instead of making vaccines that protect against only a few circulating strains of the virus, Centivax is trying to teach the immune system to recognize parts of the virus that many strains share and that resist mutation. The hope is that antibodies targeting these regions could protect even against strains we haven't encountered yet, without scientists having to reformulate the vaccine every year. And things seem to be going well: the company has tested the vaccine in about 180 people so far and is preparing for a Phase 2 trial. This is probably the most ambitious technical interview I've ever done. We cover some extremely deep immunology, but Jake patiently explained the ideas, and I left feeling like I finally understood how vaccines actually work and how scientists make them. I also came away much more convinced that a universal flu vaccine could work in theory. Enjoy....

Tonegawa was a renowned molecular biologist who wielded his keen insight in a variety of fields, including immunology and neuroscience. In the early 1980s, Tonegawa discovered how the immune system generates its incredible diversity of antibodies ' a breakthrough that earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1987. An MIT faculty member for more than 40 years, Tonegawa also served as the founding director of MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and director of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute of Japan, and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. 'Few scientists have reshaped our understanding of biology as profoundly as Susumu Tonegawa,' says Myriam Heiman, director of the Picower Institute. 'His intellectual fearlessness, extraordinary creativity, and relentless pursuit of fundamental questions opened entirely new frontiers in both immunology and neuroscience. His influence on science and on the people who had the privilege of working alongside him is immeasurable.'...

In winter 1997, at age 60, when many researchers might be looking forward to retirement, Harriet Latham Robinson SM '61, PhD '65 was pursuing a faculty position as the chief of microbiology and immunology at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Often, as the only woman in a room throughout much of her career, and in the still-developing and male-dominated field of molecular biology, her colleagues were referred to as 'doctor' or 'professor' at scientific symposia and committee meetings. Robinson was born in 1938, the second of four children, to a mother, Ruth, and a father, Allen, from Ohio and Connecticut, respectively. After finishing grammar school, she attended the Girls' Latin School, a public magnet school for college-bound young women. Although the school offered only two classes in science ' one semester of chemistry and a health class ' Robinson credits her time there for inspiring a lifelong love of learning, especially history and languages....

Ringel, who is also a core member of the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, will draw on her background in cancer immunology to create a more comprehensive biomedical understanding of the cause and possible treatments for aging-related decline. 'It is such an honor to receive this grant,' Ringel says. 'This support will enable us to draw new connections between immunology and aging biology. As the U.S. population grows older, advancing this research is increasingly important, and this line of inquiry is only possible because of the W.M. Keck Foundation.' Understanding how to extend healthy years of life is a fundamental question of biomedical research with wide-ranging societal implications. Although modern science and medicine have greatly expanded global life expectancy, it remains unclear why everyone ages differently; some maintain physical and cognitive fitness well into old age, while others become debilitatingly frail later in life. Our immune systems are adaptable, but they do naturally decline as we get older. One critical component of our immune system is CD8+ T cells, which are known to target and destroy cancerous or damaged cells. As we age, our tissues accumulate cells that can no longer divide. These senescent cells are present throughout our lives, but reach seemingly harmful levels as a normal part of aging, causing tissue damage and diminished resilience under stress....