Hunger drives survival—from the decisions of immune cells to the cravings that shape our behavior. This event explores hunger at two scales: how innate immune cells decide what to "eat" as they patrol the body, and how obesity reshapes the brain’s response to hunger, altering food preferences and risk-taking. From microscopic instincts to human desire, join us for a conversation at the intersection of biology and behavior.

Doors open at 7:00PM. Event is 21+. Limited capacity - reserve your spot here! $5

Speakers:

How does your immune system fight off infections and prevent cancers from developing? A key component of how your immune system does this is through innate immune cells called professional phagocytes. These are the cells that eat and clear dead cells, microbes, infected cells, or cancer. We still don't understand fully how these cells pick the right thing to eat. Ben will discuss how professional phagocytic cells mechanosense their environment to decide what to eat and where to move.

Ben Winer is an immunologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who focuses on how immune cells mechanosense their surrounding environment to make decisions. He did his undergraduate work in chemistry and biophysics at William and Mary and got a PhD in infectious disease and molecular biology from Princeton University. 

Paul Kenny will describe new work from his lab showing that the development of obesity restructures behavioral responses to hunger. Weight gain also alters the relative value of different types of food while increasing ‘risk tolerance’ to obtain highly palatable food.

Paul serves as chair of the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He obtained a degree in biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin and his PhD in neuropharmacology from King’s College London. Paul's research is focused on the molecular and cellular neurobiology of drug addiction, obesity, and schizophrenia.

Get ready for a night of science and storytelling inspired by HBO’s The Last of Us, where a fungal outbreak drives the plot—and the panic.

Our first speaker will explore the real-world microbes that can infect humans, and the growing risks they pose. Our second speaker will uncover the bizarre world of slime molds—single-celled organisms that move, solve puzzles, and defy expectations.

From terrifying spores to brainless brilliance, come explore the strange, spore-filled side of science that might just be stranger than fiction.

Doors open at 7:00PM. Event is 21+. Limited capacity - reserve your spot here! $5

Speakers:

Humans inhale and ingest fungi every day on Earth. For the vast majority of us, these daily encounters are silent and innocuous. A small subset of fungi can cause life-threatening diseases in vulnerable populations, typically when the immune system sustains an injury. This talk focuses on the resilience of humans and their immune defenses against ubiquitous fungi. Tobias will explore how our immune defenses recognize and eliminate fungi when they pose an invasive threat.

Tobias Hohl is Chief of Infectious Disease Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a physician-scientist and who studies how fungi on Earth can cause life-threatening diseases in humans.

Elan Trybuch will explore slimemold lifecycle, classification, and their biodiversity in the five boroughs.

Elan is the current acting Secretary of the New York Mycological Society and a Myxomycete specialist, helping to identify species and document the biodiversity of Fungi and Myxomycetes in NYC. He currently lives in Redhook, Brooklyn with his partner and works at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as an Integration Engineering Manager.