In this podcast episode, Dr. Akiko Iwasaki discusses the type of immune response developed in a person with COVID-19 as well as the role of the antibodies in the course of the pandemic and how the antibody tests can contribute to its management. 

 

About our Speaker: Dr. Akiko Iwasaki received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (Canada) in 1998, and her postdoctoral training from the National Institutes of Health (USA) (1998-2000). She joined Yale University (USA) as a faculty in 2000, and currently is the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor in the Department of Immunobiology and a Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests among others include innate immunity, T cell immunity and her research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at the mucosal surfaces. Her laboratory is interested in how innate recognition of viral infections lead to the generation of adaptive immunity, and how adaptive immunity mediates protection against subsequent viral challenge. Most recently, Dr. Iwasaki has delved into research looking at the immune response of COVID-19 patients and sex differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection. 

 

READING MATERIALS:

• The New York Times. Your Coronavirus Antibodies Are Disappearing. Should You Care? July 27th/2020 https://nyti.ms/30U14v0 
• The New York Times. Scared that COVID-19 Immunity won’t last? Don’t be. July 31st/2020 https://nyti.ms/2Pb6Dj1