ABOUT
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ISSUE
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IMMpress Volume 14 Issue 1 – Built to Survive: Immunity Beyond Humans
This marks the sixth and final issue cover I will design for IMMpress Magazine. It has been such a rewarding experience to bring together all of the articles over the past two years. Ana Sofia Mendoza Viruega will be stepping in as the newest Design Director, and I’m excited to see the creativity and fresh…
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Letter from the Chair, Dr. Jennifer Gommerman – Volume 14 Issue 1, 2026
And now for something completely different…. I loved this latest issue of IMMpress brought to you by our talented Department of Immunology graduate students entitled “Built to Survive: Immunity Beyond Humans”. I think almost any immunology project can benefit from the evolutionary perspective. Asking – “why is this beneficial to the host” can be a…
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Letter from the Editors – Volume 14 Issue 1, 2026
As scientists working at the cutting-edge of immunology discovery research , we often turn to the familiar: the well- established mouse models, drawing parallels to the human immune system, the canonical pathways and conventional cell types. These form the foundation of modern biomedical research. Yet immunity did not emerge in a single organism, nor does…
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Featured Articles
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Plants vs Microbes: A game of plant immunology
Every year, approximately 40% of global food crops valued at over $200 billion USD are lost to plant disease. Staples like wheat, rice, potato, soybean are constantly fighting against pathogens, posing a strain to food security. Ever since the first plants colonized land, an endless evolutionary race against microbes started. In this immunity game, plants
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What the Cluck? The Immunologist’s Debt to Chickens
Animal models are the cornerstone of basic research, providing simple, easy-to-study and ethical biological systems that help us better understand how the human body works. Immunologists tend to rely heavily on mice and rats for their research, owing to their similarity with human physiology, small body size, accelerated life spans, and ease of genetic modification.
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The Peto’s Paradox: Why Don’t Whales Get Cancer?
Cancer is often described as a uniquely human tragedy. But it isn’t. Cancer affects nearly every class of vertebrate and is especially common in mammals. It is, in many ways, a universal biological problem; a consequence of what it means to be multicellular. Every cell in your body is part of an extraordinary co-operative society.
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Interview
Dr. Justin Tze Ho Chan: Swimming through immunity—What fish can teach us about the immune system
This issue, we are joined by Dr. Justin Tze Ho Chan, an alumnus of the University of Toronto Department of Immunology, whose research trajectory has been shaped by a curiosity about the immune system of members of the animal kingdom beyond mammals—notably those of the inhabitants of freshwater rivers and lakes. Diving into the world
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Interview
Dr. Götz Ehrhardt: The Lamprey Time Machine -Unlocking the Secrets of Jawless Immunity
In the murky depths of the Great Lakes, the sea lamprey is often seen as a nightmare, an invasive parasite that latches onto prey and refuses to let go. But to Dr. Götz Ehrhardt, an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology at University of Toronto, these “living fossils” are more of a biological time
Articles
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Comparative Immunology: Why Investigation Across Species Still Matters
Lessons from Animal Models Comparative medicine has long played an important role in scientific discovery. Many early breakthroughs in immunology and infectious disease came from studying similarities and differences between species. Edward Jenner’s observation about milkmaids exposed to cowpox being protected from…
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Fur and fortified immunity: How growing up with pets may shape the immune system
For generations, parents have debated whether pets belong in homes with young children. Traditional advice often warned that exposure to animal fur and dander might trigger allergies or autoimmune disease. However, science is now revealing new ways in which growing…
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Mapping human illness across time through the lens of zoonosis
Animal to human disease transmission is a cause of numerous pandemics, epidemics, and severe illnesses we have seen throughout history. These diseases are zoonotic and make up around 60% of emerging human infections. The transmission process, known as zoonosis, can…
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Mini organoids vs mouse models: what will shape the future of immunology research?
For decades, one of the most prominent tools in preclinical research— ranging from drug testing to understanding fundamental science and mechanisms of disease— has been the laboratory mouse. Many major breakthroughs in immunology and medicine are owed to early experiments…
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Primates: Better Models for Human Disease? Opportunities and Challenges
Non-human primates (NHPs) occupy a unique niche in biomedical research. The earliest documented scientific use of primates takes us back to the United Kingdom in 1698, when the Royal Society commissioned the first dissection of a juvenile chimpanzee for studies…
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Spray-induced gene silencing: Using RNAi to fight fungi
Fungi Are No Fun For Plants The fungus Botrytis cinerea (B. cinerea) derives its name from the Latin term for “grapes of ash.” Also known as gray mold, this harmful crop pathogen coats damaged plant tissue with an ashy fuzz made from small, grape-like…
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The Enormous Impact of a Tiny Immune System: a Book Review of Walter Isaacson’s “The Code Breaker”
How can I convince you to read this biography? As a student in the Department of Immunology, I tend to be overly critical when reading books about Immunology and I often choose instead to read about topics unrelated to science altogether. Despite this, I…
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VLRs: the jawless fish strike back!
The intricate web of organs, cells, and molecules that make up our immune system can be viewed as the product of evolutionary optimization, designed by nature itself. Our adaptive immune system, in particular, is a marvel; it is comprised of…
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What the humble naked mole-rat can teach us about immunity
In the world of immunology, the human and murine model systems are often viewed as the “gold standard.” As such, we (humans) define a robust immune system by two intricately linked arms: the innate system, which provides rapid, broad-spectrum defense,…