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The Viral TalkAuthor: Federico De Angelis, Bobbie-Anne Turner
What is a virus? What does spillover mean? How can viruses infect humans? If these are things that you would like to know but lack the time or energy to research them, then welcome to The Viral Talk, the show which gives brief, direct and easy-to-understand answers to the big questions in virology. I am your host Federico De Angelis, a PhD student studying SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh. Join me every other week to discover all the aspects of these obscure but fascinating organisms. Join in and Let's Go Viral. Language: en-gb Genres: Life Sciences, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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S2 Episode 2 - What is the innate immune system?
Episode 2
Monday, 18 August, 2025
What do scientists mean when they talk about the innate immune system? What are the differences between innate and adaptive immunity? What is the immune system composed of? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk. Key takeaways:- Our immune system can be divided in 'innate' and 'adaptive'. - The innate immune system is quick and acts broadly. The adaptive immune system takes longer to kick in, but it is much more effective. - The innate immune system is composed of multiple layers. Physical barriers like the skin, mucosal barriers like mucus and saliva, and chemical barriers like our stomach pH protect us from the vast majority of pathogens. - Sometimes these are not enough, so most cells in our body have sentinels on their outside and inside that look for signs of infection and activate a general, quick immune response, leading to activation of some of our white blood cells, as well inflammation, swelling and increase in temperature. -The masterminds for the activation of our innate antiviral response are the interferon genes. There are multiple types of interferons, and they act as signaling molecules that induce an antiviral state inside the cell. For the sciency people:Book chapter on innate immunity - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459455/ Explanation on interferon - https://www.dummies.com/article/academics-the-arts/science/biology/innate-immunity-built-in-defenses-169110/ Timestamps: Core episode start - 1.24Viral News of the day -13.50Ask a virologist section - 36.30Calls to ActionFollow the Viral Talk on IG - https://www.instagram.com/the_viral_talk_/ On X - https://x.com/the_viral_talk
