About this episode
Biochemist Lingyin Li survived breast cancer at just 30 and now works to harness the human immune system to fight cancers that have long evaded treatment. T cells, she says, are powerful cancer killers, but they can be oblivious. She and her lab colleagues have discovered a masking enzyme that squelches the immune system’s “danger signals” and are now developing drugs to block that enzyme. She likens her work to an arms race between cancer and immunotherapy. “The cancers are not getting smarter, but we are,” Li tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode. Please introduce yourself, let us know where you're listening from, and share your question. You can send questions to thefutureofeverything@stanford.edu.Episode Reference Links:Stanford Profile: Lingyin LiConnect With Us:Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything WebsiteConnect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / MastodonConnect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / FacebookChapters:(00:00:00) IntroductionRuss Altman introduces guest Lingyin Li, a professor of biochemistry at Stanford University.(00:03:38) Research MotivationLingyin explains how her breast cancer diagnosis inspired her research.(00:04:31) How T-Cells WorkT-cell mechanisms and why they struggle to reach solid tumors.(00:05:38) Immune System OverviewInnate and adaptive immunity and how mutations make cancer recognizable.(00:07:28) Awakening the Immune SystemEfforts to stimulate innate immune cells to detect and expose tumors.(00:10:54) The Cancer SignalDiscovery of cancer-derived DNA signals that alert the immune system.(00:13:01) Cancer’s Evasion MechanismHow tumors destroy immune signals to hide from detection.
