Yoshinori Ohsumi is a deserving winner of this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, whose work shows the value of basic research, writes Professor David Rubinsztein, Deputy Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research on The Conversation website.
A new mechanism that affects how our immune cells perform – and hence their ability to prevent disease – has been discovered by an international team of researchers led by Cambridge scientists.
Smoking increases an individual’s risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) – and makes the infection worse – because it causes vital immune cells to become clogged up, slowing their movement and impeding their ability to fight infection, according to new research published in the journal Cell.
An international consortium of laboratories worldwide that are studying the differences among dengue viruses has shown that while the long-held view that there are four genetically-distinct types of the virus holds, far more important are the differences in their antigenic properties – the ‘coats’ that the viruses wear that help our immune systems identify them.
Many of us are infected with a virus we’ll never clear. While we’re healthy, it’s nothing to worry about, but when our immune system is suppressed it could kill us.
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