Recommended reading from around the Web

Nobel Prize Winner Proposed New Theories of Immune Cells

Nobel Prize Winner Proposed New Theories of Immune Cells

by Ralph Steinman, M.D.

Immunology in the News | April 2008

Joshua Lederberg made several startling proposals in the fields of microbiology and immunology. Technological advancements in the years that followed proved him right again and again.

Experimental Meningitis Vaccine Shows Promise

by Steve Sternberg

USA Today | May 6, 2008

A new vaccine appears to provide a more potent immunity against meningitis in young people. It also works in young infants, unlike the current vaccine.

Measles in U.S. at Highest Level Since 2001

by Denise Grady

The New York Times | May 2, 2008

Measles cases have increased dramatically in the U.S., and immunologists worry that "we haven't seen the end of this" outbreak.

Nature Reviews: Vaccine Research

Nature | May 2008

Two interviews illustrate the ways in which vaccine research and development have been revitalized in the wake of commercial success.

Seeing Is Believing

The Economist | May 1, 2008

A highly lauded study in which gene therapy was successfully used to cure a rare form of genetic blindness could herald the dawn of a new kind of medicine. Success depended crucially on getting the body's immune system to accept the modified virus.

Drug From Genentech and Biogen Fails as a Lupus Treatment

by Andrew Pollack

The New York Times | April 30, 2008

In another disappointing setback in the struggle to find a successful lupus treatment, two giant drug companies announced that their candidate drug, rituximab (Rituxan), showed no effectiveness in trials.

Researchers Make Human Flu Antibodies at Record Speed

by Nikhil Swaminathan

Scientific American | April 30, 2008

Manufacturing disease-destroying proteins has become faster and easier thanks to flu researchers, who have developed a new and potentially life-saving technique.