What Are Regulatory T Cells (Tregs) and Their Function?

Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this one-episode special brings all three 2025 Nobel Prizes in the sciences into a single listen: Medicine (immune tolerance and FOXP3), Physics (macroscopic quantum tunneling in superconducting circuits), and Chemistry (metal–organic frameworks and “new rooms for chemistry”).

Summary

• Medicine: Regulatory T cells and the FOXP3 gene that prevent autoimmune disease.
• Physics: Macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantization in electrical circuits — the bridge to today’s qubits.
• Chemistry: Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) — modular porous crystals enabling CO₂ capture, water harvesting, and hydrogen storage.

Show Notes

• Nobel Prize Press Release (2025 Medicine)
• Nature Genetics (2001) — FOXP3 mutation and IPEX link
• Nature Genetics (2001) — FOXP3 Mutation Causes Dysregulation
• Nature Genetics (2001) — FOXP3 Gene Cause IPEX Syndrome
• Science (2003) — FOXP3 function in regulatory T cells
• German Journal of Immunology (1995) — Sakaguchi’s first Treg paper
• Nobel Prize Press Release (2025 Physics)
• Physical Review Letters (1980s) — Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling Experiments (UC Berkeley)
• BCS Theory (1972 Nobel) — Bardeen, Cooper & Schrieffer, University of Illinois
• Josephson Effect (1973 Nobel) — Brian D. Josephson
• Google Quantum AI Lab — Quantum Supremacy Paper (Nature, 2019)
• Nobel Prize Press Release (2025 Chemistry)
• Nature (1999) — MOF-5 Discovery (Omar Yaghi et al.)
• Science (2003) — Reticular Chemistry Foundations
• Journal of the American Chemical Society (1989, 1990) — Richard Robson’s Early Frameworks
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — ChatMOF and AI-Assisted Materials Discovery