I love it. I'm a chemistry student and I want something like that for us.

We have identified immune cells that remain in the skin even after allergic dermatitis has subsided, acting as "sparks for relapse," and the mechanisms for maintaining these cells.

I recently started drawing cartoons for immunology concepts for fun and posting them on Substack as popular science articles.

When I first learned about T cells, I thought of CD8+ T cells as warriors, since they fight infected cells directly, and CD4+ T cells as mages, since they cast spells (cytokines) that enhance other units, such as innate immune cells. I drew this idea as a small cartoon: https://wendy0327.substack.com/p/warrior-and-mage-part-1?r=94su29&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

It’s very much a trial, and I’ll rewrite it if better ideas come along. Now I’m wondering whether CD8+ T cells should be assassins, given how precisely they target their victims.

I’d like to expand this fantasy immune world to other cell populations. What role or profession would you give each cell (B cells, NK cells, macrophages, neutrophils, Tregs, dendritic cells...)? Do the metaphors hold up scientifically, or do they break somewhere? Corrections and ideas are very welcome!

Edit: I dont make profit from my writing or drawing. Any ideas suggested will be cited if I use it for my drawing/article.

I want to make a small ink/watercolour illustration for an immunology MSc student but I have no idea what I could illustrate. Any ideas?

Hello, I work extensively with ENCODE data (if you're not familiar with this, it's a big consortium that produces and analyzes various aspects of human and mouse genomes and genetic regulation, broadly speaking), and I am curious about how some of the T cell samples I work with were activated, since it doesn't exactly align with the canonical three-part activation I learned about in my undergraduate immunology class.

Basically, I am looking at differences in genome organization between resting and activated T cells, but the treatment protocols continue to confuse me. Here is the description from the lab that did the actual activation:

"CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and their subsets were left resting in culture or activated using anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 (aCD3/aCD28) coated beads (Invitrogen cat# 11132D) (1 bead:2 cells ratio) and cultured in complete RPMI 1640 at 10M/6ml/well in 6 well-plate. Resting cells and 90% of activated T cells were collected on day 2 (36 hours) and beads were removed using Dynal magnet. The rest of activated cells was expanded in rhIL-2 (10 ng/ml, R&D Systems cat# 10453-IL-100) containing media for 5 to 6 more days and collected on day 7 or day 8 post activation. Activation of T cells was confirmed by the upregulation of CD25 and CD69 surface expression analyzed by flow cytometry. For differentiation into different T helper (Th) subsets, Naïve CD4+ (sorted CD45RO- CCR7+) T cells were activated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 beads in the presence of the following polarizing cytokine and blocking antibody combinations: Th0, medium only, Th1, human IL-12 (R&D Systems cat# 219-IL-025; 30 ng/ml) and neutralizing anti-IL-4 Antibody (R&D Systems cat# AF-204-NA; 1 μg/ml), and Th2, human IL-4 (R&D Systems cat# 204-IL-020; 100 ng/ml) and neutralizing anti-IFN-γ Antibody (R&D Systems cat# MAB285-100; 5 μg/ml). Cells were cultured and expanded in rhIL-2 (10 ng/ml, R&D Systems cat# 10453-IL-100) containing media for 2 weeks. On day 13 after activation, some of the cells were reactivated with aCD3/aCD28 beads (at 1 bead:3 cells ratio) for another 24 hours."

Can anyone tell me if this is standard procedure for in vitro T cell stimulation that closely mimics in vivo activation, or is there something off here that I need to be aware of?

Thanks in advance for reading this and for your help!!

I am having troubles with activation of T cells. I use RPMI media supplemented with L-glutamine and add 10% FBS, 1% Pen strep, 1% NEAA, 25mM HEPES and on the day of isolation I add 50uM BME and around 40ng/ml of 200ug/ml IL2 (i didnt take note of the lot number so I dont know IU/ml :((() and 2ug/ml of CD28.

side note - i aliquot and store IL2 at -80. never use thawed vial again.

For activation, I precoat the plate with 3ug/ml of anti-CD3 for 2hours at 37C or o/v at 4C. I try to culture 1-1.5mln per ml in 12 well plate.

The main concern is I don't see them clustering/clumping together. They don't even float but feels like stuck on the plate bottom. even when i try to swirl, they are still kind of adhered to the bottom of the well. idk if it is a problem.

I believe I see them get bigger in size but just don't proliferate much.

And when I try to further chronically stimulate them, I see a lot of death on day 3-4 (2 days of activation + 1-2 days of further stimulation). so flow viability is like 7% (i know it is terrible)

anyone has any idea whats wrong with this flow? please help.......

Wrapping up my PhD in the next few months (🤜🪵), with a focus largely on neutrophils/NETosis. I've gotten a commemorative tattoo for each major lab I've been in, drawing on inspiration from tattoos other folks have gotten and shared.

That being said, I'm having a hell of a time finding any tattoos of neutrophils and/or NETs on any medium that I've searched. Anything I've found is completely textbook (no artistic flair) or AI slop, so I figured I'd crowd source to my fellow nerds! Anyone here with a neutrophil tattoo willing to share?

Hi all!

I'm a biology graduate who loves drawing, so I've started making cartoons that explain immunology to people with no background.

My first one, "Picky Eater", shows a dendritic cell trying to feed a very fussy T cell: the watermelon has to be sliced (peptides), served on the right plate (MHC), and come with a fork (co-stimulation).

I've also written a plain-language article explaining the real science behind it.

I'd love some feedback from people, and ideas for what to cartoon next are welcome!!

Hi, i was wondering if anyone here is familiar with mast cell biology. i have been doing immunophenotyping in muscle and lungs of balb/c mice. For some reason, the CD117+ Siglec F- cells that i have assumed are mast cells are not expressing Fcer1. I have done this with both control steady state mice and virus infected mice. However, my basophils are positive for the FceR1 receptor so i know the antibody works. i have seen this every time i've used this panel. i'm confused because im under the impression that mature mast cells in tissues should express FceR1.

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

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? :)