Author: Ines P.
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A New Hope for Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a chronic disease that affects around 10% of people having a woman’s reproductive system. It is an extremely painful disease that very often goes undiagnosed. For years, we have been dependent on pain medications or hormonal medications (having numerous side effects) as a route for relief, but there was no cure. Thankfully, in more…
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Q&A with Lauren Stafford: Transfer of antibodies from vaccinated mothers to breastfeeding children
Disclaimer: The interview transcript has been modified into a blog-friendly format. The actual interview audio is available at the end of the blog. We were lucky enough that one of the authors of the article “Detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgA and IgG in human milk and breastfeeding infant stool 6 months after maternal COVID-19 vaccination”, Lauren…
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Your T cells can outlive you!
Did you ever question mortality? Some people believe in the existence of living elements (like our soul), even after our death. For us biologists, there is a standard consideration of cells being mortal. In human biology, there is even a limitation of 50 – 60 divisions that cells can undergo, known as a ‘Hayflick limit’.…
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Sugar, yes please, won’t you come and put it down on macrophage: A song of sugars and cancers
Our immune system is a well-orchestrated fort, equipped to fight all kinds of nasty that attack our body. Unfortunately, some attackers come well prepared with weapons for immune evasion and can escape or even confuse our immune system, such as with cancer. In the recent years, we have seen a rise of new potential therapies…
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Silica particles vs. the immune system
Let’s cover a topic that is rarely discussed in immunology – Silicosis. Have you ever imagined what happens when you breathe in silica? Silica particles cause a severe condition called silicosis. As Ganesan et al. explain that silicosis is a fibrotic lung disease caused by the inhalation of respirable silica particles. Where can we be…
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Another Novel Zoonotic Virus: The Langya henipavirus!
Picture source: CDC Recent reports from the eastern region of China in the New England Journal of Medicine mentioned 35 patients showing feverish symptoms, infected with a novel zoonotic virus (virus of animal origin that can infect humans). The virus, Langya henipavirus (LayV), was named after the town “Langya“ where the first patient infected with…
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The One where he Receives a Pig’s Heart
Throughout history, people have experimented with transplantation and transfusion. Until the discovery of Human Leukocyte Antigen, blood groups, and tissue typing – donors commonly consisted of animals. My favorite one was using lamb blood because of religious aspects (Lamb of God), although it did not work as often. Expected, right? However, today with genetic modification…
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Can our adipose tissue handle an infection?
A little fat won’t kill you – well, this may be a lie, but could I interest you in a story where a little fat could ‘save’ you after infection? This discovery definitely got my motor running. Could the adipocyte (a fat cell) act as an immune cell and clear the infection? Unfortunately, Caputa et…
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Neutrophils help organs heal
Most of us had our knees bruised when we were kids: riding a bicycle, climbing the trees, playing soccer… and it was so fascinating to look at the tissue healing process following that – the development of fibrotic tissue, skin remodeling, and so on… Only much later in our life, did we come to know…
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Microbiota makes our intestines move and keeps the worms away
Image source: CDC The word “infection” is often associated with either bacteria or virus, but we all know there are some other bad guys that can infect us too. One must not forget about- the parasites. Even though they are more common in the rural areas where hygiene is still an issue, WHO counts that…
Antibuddies 