Episode 33 Season 7: Cancer Clues, Dog Socialization, and Interview with Author Melanie Kaplan on Lab Dogs

Episode 33 Season 7: Cancer Clues, Dog Socialization, and Interview with Author Melanie Kaplan on Lab Dogs

From The Science Pawdcast by Jason and Kris Zackowski

November 22, 2025 · 57 min · Season 7 · Episode 33

About this episode

This episode discusses the potential of mRNA COVID vaccines in cancer treatment and features an interview with author Melanie Kaplan about lab dogs.

Send us Fan Mail A vaccine built for a virus might be whispering a powerful message to cancer care. We dig into a new Nature paper suggesting that mRNA COVID shots could enhance the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy—especially in non‑small cell lung cancer and melanoma—by acting as an immune alarm that sharpens anti‑tumor responses. The data is retrospective, not causal, so we break down why the signal is exciting, where confounders can hide, and what the next generation of ...

People in this episode

Hosts: Jason Zackowski, Kris Zackowski

Guest: Melanie Kaplan

Topics covered

  • cancer research
  • dog socialization
  • immunotherapy
  • mRNA vaccines
  • interview with author
  • lab dogs

Keywords

  • cancer clues
  • dog socialization
  • mRNA COVID shots
  • immunotherapy
  • lab dogs
  • Melanie Kaplan
  • non-small cell lung cancer
  • melanoma

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nature

Products: mRNA COVID shots

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