Immunology Archives

Immunology

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind

On a recent night at the Rubin Museum, neuroscientist Barbara Lipska sat down with journalist (and son-in-law) Jake Halpern to offer a lucid perspective of what it’s like to experience psychosis.

Immunology

Almost Invisible to the Immune Response

Q&A with R. Mark Wooten, Ph.D.

We talk to Dana Foundation grantee Mark Wooten about his research into the bacterium behind Lyme disease

Immunology

Zika: Advancements in Research to Tackle the Virus

Zika: Advancements in Research to Tackle the Virus. Capitol Hill Briefing on Wednesday, July 6, 2016.

Immunology

Stress and Immunity

From Starving Cavemen to Stressed-Out Scientists

Scientists in Australia have recently discovered the first clear molecular process that helps to explain how stress suppresses our immune defenses and makes us more vulnerable to getting sick. Has a biological system that worked well for early humans faced with starvation turned against those of us living with the many new stresses of modern society?

Immunology

Climb Aboard! Neuroimmunology Is Leaving the Station

Neuroimmunology took off because two established disciplines began to find surprising connections where only disjunctions had been seen. Scientists began to realize that some of the same processes and substances were at work in both the nervous and immune systems—and the race was on. In a decade or less, the investigators interviewed by Asbury have made discoveries about immune activity in the brain, the role of inflammation in both systems, and the nature of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Immunology

Patients Have Been Too Patient With Basic Research

Steinman has devoted his long career to pioneering studies of immunology. Basic research of this kind has been hugely productive, he says, but its potential benefits for treating serious illnesses are taking too long to reach patients. We are failing to maintain a crucial transmission belt between basic research and clinical applications: the physician-scientist. We must take immediate and effective steps to reverse this trend, because our lives “may one day depend upon the progress of medicine.”

Immunology