Hi Reddit, we are COVID-19 researchers working to understand the ways SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, affects your immune system. We’re trying to answer questions such as why some people get more sick than others, how your immune system can protect you from the virus (infection or reinfection), and how your immune system can overreact and itself have a significant impact on health.

We are doing so as part of the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC), a UK-wide collaboration between many of the UK’s leading experts in immunology across 20 different research centres. This is a whole new way of doing science, and we’ve been working together to try and bring real benefits to patients and the public as quickly as possible. You can find out more about UK-CIC on our website.

Here to answer your questions today, we have:

• Dr Ane Ogbe, Postdoctoral Scientist at the University of Oxford. Ane is investigating the role of T cells when we are exposed to SARS-CoV-2, including how they can protect us from infection.

• Dr Leo Swadling, Research Fellow at University College London. Leo’s research tries to understand why some people can be exposed to SARS-CoV-2 but not become infected, and asks whether immune memory plays a role.

• Dr Ryan Thwaites, Research Associate at Imperial College London. Ryan studies how the immune system contributes to the severity of COVID-19.

Ask us anything about COVID-19 and the immune system! We will be answering your questions between 15:00-17:00 (British Summer Time, or 9:00-11:00 Central Daylight Time, for US Redditors).

Link to Twitter proof

Edit: Hi Mods, we're done answering questions - thank you to everyone that commented! This AMA is now over (time: 17:27 BST)