The human immune system is highly complex and variable. Some people mount robust responses to infection, vaccination, or immunotherapy, while others fail to react appropriately. These differences have obvious implications for health and disease, and they have been especially appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic as some individuals show no symptoms after contracting SARS-CoV-2 while others experience severe, life-threatening disease.

In this episode, Niki Spahich from The Scientist’s Creative Services team spoke with John Tsang, co-director of the National Institutes of Health Center for Human Immunology about how he uses innovative single-cell technology to discover early predictors of an individual’s immune response to stresses such as vaccination, autoimmunity, and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Notably, his team identified signatures of severe COVID-19 connected to a late wave of inflammation.

John Tsang expresses his own opinions in this episode, and they do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the NIH.

LabTalk is a special edition podcast produced by The Scientist’s Creative Services Team, where we explore topics at the leading edge of innovative research. To keep up to date with this podcast, follow The Scientist on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to our podcast channel wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was sponsored by 10x Genomics.