How Sex Differences and Cytokines Shape Immune Responses - GSS 1.0 (6/6) - Kumba Seddu

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Episode 6 of 6) Kumba Seddu started her PhD journey at Johns Hopkins University where she investigated male and female immune differences to viral vaccines and infections. Her research added to the growing evidence that vaccinated females have greater antibody responses than males. This increased vaccine-induced antibody response in females is due to hormonal (estrogen) effects and sex chromosome (XX) effects. Now at Harvard Medical School, she is studying the gene expression and immune cell activation cascade upon interleukin-2 [IL-2] cytokine stimulation. IL-2 treatment has implications from infection to autoimmune diseases and cancer. She has won several awards including the U.S National Institute of Health Specialized Centers for Research Excellence award, the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health award, and the Paul Farmer Honorary award. Kumba is passionate about equipping researchers and young leaders from low- and middle-income countries to end infectious diseases and solve global challenges. This goal drives her commitment to mentoring students around the world and to leading community solution-driven projects in her home country, Sierra Leone. In this episode, she shares her inspiring journey from Sierra Leone to the United States, where she's currently pursuing her PhD in the field of immunology [Kumba's current research explores immune responses to the cytokine, interleukin-2 (IL-2)]. As usual, we also get to hear her thoughts on the current state of immunology in Africa as well as approaches for advancing research in the field. Time stamps: 00:00 - intro 02:43 - overview of academic and research journey 04:50 - how interest in immunology developed 08:03 - updates from research on sex differences and immune responses (at Johns Hopkins University) 12:50 - updates from research on IL-2 and immune responses (at Harvard Medical School) 15:47 - implications of research findings on infectious diseases 23:22 - life in graduate school (managing failures and successes; most favourite & least favourite experiments) 31:25 - core guiding principles 38:20 - thoughts on promoting immunology and scientific research in Africa 45:40 - fun task (share a eureka moment from the lab) 48:32 - outro