Unravelling T-Cell Recognition – Insights from Immunology and AI

A conversation with Professor Hashem Koohy about possibilities for use of AI in driving forward T cell research. In the first To Immunity and Beyond episode of 2026, Paul Klenerman speaks with systems biologist Hashem Koohy, whose career journey from pure mathematics to immunology offers a fresh lens on T cell research. Hashem describes how advances in genomics, data science, and AI led him to focus on one of immunology’s central challenges: understanding how T cells recognise their targets, a process critical to infections, cancer, and immunotherapy. The discussion explores why predicting T cell–antigen interactions remains difficult despite vast datasets and powerful AI tools. Hashem argues that progress requires more than better predictions—it demands clearer biological concepts, realistic expectations, and data designed to answer the right questions. He highlights the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration and calls for AI to be used not just to generate results, but to reveal the underlying rules of immune recognition. Further reading: T Cell Recognition Community LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/15319051/ Hudson, D., Fernandes, R.A., Basham, M. et al. Can we predict T cell specificity with digital biology and machine learning? Nat Rev Immunol 23, 511–521 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-023-00835-3 McMaster, B., Thorpe, C., Ogg, G. et al. Can AlphaFold’s breakthrough in protein structure help decode the fundamental principles of adaptive cellular immunity? Nat Methods 21, 766–776 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02240-7 Hashem’s website: https://www.immunointelligence.co.uk/ ImmSilico: https://www.immsilico.com/