Immunity Content

A Chip to Measure Immunity

Andy Fell — December 04, 2024 - 4:16pm

Every winter, influenza returns with a new variant. People who have previously been infected with or vaccinated against flu may have some protection, but this depends on how well their immune system’s “memory” of the previous virus or vaccine cross-reacts with the new variant. At present, there is no good way to measure this. A new NIH-funded project by researchers at the University of California, Davis and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health aims to solve that problem with a new device to measure this immune system “memory” in the blood.

Chloroplasts Do More Than Photosynthesis: They’re Also a Key Player in Plant Immunity

Andy Fell — October 25, 2023 - 11:15am

Scientists have long known that chloroplasts help plants turn the sun’s energy into food, but a new study, led by plant biologists at the University of California, Davis, shows that they are also essential for plant immunity to viral and bacterial pathogens.

Chloroplasts are generally spherical, but a small percentage of them change their shape and send out tube-like projections called “stromules.” First observed over a century ago, the biological function of stromules has remained enigmatic.

Vaccines Hitch a Genomic Ride to Ward off Deadly Chicken Disease

Patricia Bailey — November 17, 2016 - 4:18pm

A new study from �ٺ��Ƶ and the U.S. Department of Agriculture describes how vaccines insert themselves into the chicken’s chromosomes to work against Marek's disease, a deadly virus of chickens, and how the vaccine's activity could offer a model for related human herpesvirus diseases such as chickenpox.