The chemical immunology revolution

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Dr. Lingyin Li is strong and determined and smart and brave. She knows that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that challenges are just steps towards success. While she survived her fight with cancer, many people don’t. Her biochemistry research, however, is as brave as she is and offers the promise to revolutionize cancer treatment. This new way of thinking overcomes the limitations of the two main therapeutic approaches: the general toxicity of chemotherapy and the drug resistance of targeted therapy.

Lingying’s study of the cGAMP cascade is as new as it is disruptive, offering a completely new perspective on how we could use chemistry to activate our own immune system. This is opening the door to a completely novel approach to the use of immunotherapy as a targeted treatment for cancer and viral infections.

This interview is another great example of chemistry research defining new ways in an adjacent scientific discipline and, as it often happens in this podcast, an intriguing personal story. A perfect finale to close this exciting season 2 of Bringing Chemistry to Life, and a hint of more of what’s to come in our next season.

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About Your Host

Paolo Braiuca grew up in the North-East of Italy and holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from nearby esteemed University of Trieste, Italy.  He developed expertise in biocatalysis during his years of post-doctoral research in Italy and the UK, where he co-founded a startup company. With this new venture, Paolo’s career shifted from R&D to business development, taking on roles in commercial, product management, and marketing. He has worked in the specialty chemicals, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical markets in Germany and the UK, where he presently resides.

He is currently the Director of Global Market Development in the Laboratory Chemicals Division  at Thermo Fisher Scientific™ which put him in the host chair of the Bringing Chemistry to Life podcast. A busy father of four, in what little free time he has, you’ll find him inventing electronic devices with the help of his loyal 3D-printer and soldering iron. And if you ask him, he’ll call himself a “maker” at heart.