We live and we learn – a statement I deeply resonate with. It encapsulates our past, present, and future, evidencing that knowledge is never confined to a single event. Rather, it grows from experiences and may never be complete. This forum is one such experience.

Today, I am a beginning PhD student with a deep interest in immunology, specifically antiviral T cells in health and diseases. My fascination with immunology began when I recognised the pathogeneses of many diseases converge on immunological complications. Improving our knowledge of the immune system advances disease management.

Still immensely etched in our minds, COVID-19 powerfully exemplifies the critical role of every field and industry, be their significance tangible or otherwise. The arts aided personal wellbeing while logistics ensured smooth societal operations. In the sciences, interdisciplinary collaborations expedited rapid understanding of the virus and pandemic. For instance, the combined fields of structural biology and immunology strategised vaccinations, mathematics and epidemiology modelled disease kinetics, and public policy and psychology anchored public communication.

I believe the world is ever more intertwined than before. Attending the forum alongside professionals in various disciplines is an avenue to interact, inspire, and be inspired. Afterall, we live, and we will learn.

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) highlighted the importance of the cell-mediated immunity for protection against pathogenic agents. Healthy young adults, who tend to have a mature and responsive immune system capable of effectively controlling pathogenic agents, have consistently demonstrated better prognoses and have less severe disease upon infection with SARS-CoV-2. Yet, they are distinctly understudied in comparison to other cohorts such as the elderly and young children.

Thus, one of my current research goals is to conduct a deep immunophenotyping of the antigen-specific memory T cells against SARS-CoV-2 and other common viruses, such as seasonal human coronaviruses and herpesviruses, in healthy young adults. I hypothesise that the antigen-specific memory T cell responses are distinctly adapted to the type of infection. To investigate this, we developed a protocol to elucidate broad-based antigen-specific memory T cells, before performing high-parameter activation-induced spectral flow cytometric analysis. Further research into the cell-mediated responses in various infection and inflammation contexts in healthy young adults can uncover links between age and immunity, as well as provide insights into the healthy antiviral immune responses across viruses.