Barriers, B Cells & Battle Plans: Your Immune System Unleashed

Mucus! It’s something we only think about when it’s annoyingly blocking our nose during a cold, but mucus is one of our oldest and greatest defences. Every day, your body commits to producing an incredible volume of slime. From your eyes to your intestines, your mucus layer helps decide what comes in and what stays out. This slime is far from simple; it is a true wonder material being researched in fields from ecology to engineering. In immunology, I researched how it shapes up against one of the most common global infections: parasitic worms. Welcome to slime science!

Cancer is clever but we’re getting smarter. CAR-T therapy reprograms immune cells to hunt cancer, but it doesn’t work for everyone. I’ll show how we’re using stem cells to build brand-new immune cells in the lab, opening the door to ready-made treatments that could transform how we fight cancer.

Our lungs process thousands of litres of air daily, patrolled by a small but active immune network that detects pathogens and pollutants. In chronic lung diseases like COPD, however, these immune cells accumulate and start causing damage. One group of cells, called B cells, show up in surprising numbers - but are they helping or harming? This talk explores how B cells may drive lung damage and how understanding them could lead to new treatments.