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Bat Immune Systems: The Original Antivirus Programs
Bats stay healthy while hosting some of the world’s deadliest viruses. Scientists are just beginning to understand how.
Bat Immune Systems: The Original Antivirus Programs
Bat Immune Systems: The Original Antivirus Programs

Bats stay healthy while hosting some of the world’s deadliest viruses. Scientists are just beginning to understand how.

Bats stay healthy while hosting some of the world’s deadliest viruses. Scientists are just beginning to understand how.

infectious disease, immunology

A Signal for T Cells to Remember
Patience Asanga | Feb 22, 2024 | 3 min read
Timely modulation of a common signaling pathway can preserve influenza memory in lung T cells.
An illustration of a small number of virus particles on a blurred background.
A New Piece in the HIV Replication Puzzle
Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga, PhD | Feb 14, 2024 | 4 min read
A host lipid-modifying enzyme plays a key role in HIV envelope formation, viral maturation, and infectivity. 
New Strategies in the Battle Against Infectious Diseases
New Strategies in the Battle Against Infectious Diseases
The Scientist Staff | 2 min read
Learn how the latest research into viral and bacterial pathogens advances the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. 
Vet giving vaccines to pigs
Antimicrobial Resistance: The Silent Pandemic
Danielle Gerhard, PhD | Jun 30, 2023 | 9 min read
Scientists continue to ring alarm bells about the risks associated with the continued misuse of antimicrobials and advocate for innovative treatments, improved surveillance, and greater public health education.
Fluorescent images of red cells showing high and low levels of infection in green
Parasite Drove Natural Selection in Amazonian Indigenous Groups
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Mar 13, 2023 | 4 min read
The findings could help researchers understand why some individuals are more vulnerable to deadly Chagas disease.
3D medical illustration of peripheral blood cells: a lymphocyte (left) and a monocyte (right) surrounded by red blood cells.
PBMCs: Mononucleated and Multipurposed
Deanna MacNeil, PhD | 4 min read
Researchers employ peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in clinical and academic applications related to the immune system and regenerative medicine.
RSV vaccine design concept art
RSV Vaccines That Work?
Rachael Moeller Gorman | Feb 16, 2023 | 10+ min read
Multiple candidates are in Phase 3 clinical trials for older adults and pregnant women, with some getting close to approval in the United States.
Artist’s rendering of various orange and pink colored bacteria
Q&A: What if Immune Cells Don’t Actually Detect Viruses and Bacteria?
Dan Robitzski | Feb 3, 2023 | 10+ min read
The Scientist spoke with Jonathan Kagan about his idea that immune cells respond to “errors” made by unsuccessful pathogens, not the pathogens themselves.
Long COVID: The Knowns and Unknowns
Long COVID: The Knowns and Unknowns
The Scientist | 1 min read
Manali Mukherjee and Grace Lam discuss the presentation and implications of chronic, long-term COVID-19 infections.
Rendered image of <em>Chlamydia</em>
How Chlamydia Guards Itself Against the Immune System
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 4 min read
The bacterium produces a particular protein that allows it to sneak past the human immune system even while triggering inflammation.
<em>Chlamydia</em> invades a host cell, forms a membrane-bound vacuole, or inclusion, and then modifies the protein composition of the structure&rsquo;s membrane. If immune cells detect <em>Chlamydia</em> before it forms the inclusion, they trigger T cells to produce interferon-&gamma; (IFN-&gamma;), a powerful cytokine. IFN-&gamma; activates the protein mysterin (also called RFN213), which attaches ubiquitin to the inclusion membrane, signaling the cell to destroy the inclusion&rsquo;s contents by dumping them into a lysosome (left). C. trachomatis produces GarD, a protein that integrates into the inclusion membrane itself and somehow prevents mysterin from attaching ubiquitin, allowing the bacterium to evade immune destruction while continuing to multiply and eventually bursting from the cell (right).
Infographic: How Chlamydia Evades Immune Detection
Natalia Mesa, PhD | Jan 2, 2023 | 2 min read
Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia, hides from the immune system by cloaking itself in the host cell’s membrane then modifying the membrane’s protein composition.
iStock
The Scientist Speaks - To Conserve and Protect: The Quest for Universal Vaccines
Niki Spahich, PhD | 1 min read
Patrick Wilson discusses the challenges in designing universal vaccines and his work developing one for influenza.
Illustration of viruses represented with different colors overlapping each other.
What Happens When You Catch More than One Virus?
Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD | Dec 7, 2022 | 8 min read
The “tripledemic” shines a spotlight on viral interference, in which one infection can block another.
A woman wearing a gray sweater and a bright orange scarf and hat blows her nose vaguely in the direction of the camera. A snowy landscape can be seen behind her.
How Cold Weather May Help You Catch a Cold
Dan Robitzski | Dec 6, 2022 | 3 min read
Warm nasal cells mount stronger defenses against cold-causing coronaviruses and rhinoviruses than those exposed to cooler temperatures, an in vitro experiment finds.
The Power of ChipCytometry™? Multiplexing
Seeing is Believing: The Power of ChipCytometry™  Multiplexing
The Scientist and Canopy Biosciences | 1 min read
J. Spencer Schwarz discusses how ChipCytometry™ Spatial Multiplexing Technology advances spatial biology research
Image of a white cardboard box with a blue vertical stripe on the left side, the word &ldquo;Apixaban&rdquo; in blue lettering at the bottom, and a depiction of apixaban&rsquo;s molecular structure in black.
Blood Thinner Ineffective for COVID-19 Patients: Study
Dan Robitzski | Nov 28, 2022 | 2 min read
A clinical trial finds that the anticoagulant apixaban, which has been prescribed to help COVID-19 patients recover, is ineffective and in rare instances dangerous.
A brown and gray Daubenton&rsquo;s bat in midair, flying in the general direction of the camera with wings outstretched and mouth open.
Duplicated Gene Helps Bats Survive “Arms Race” With Viruses
Dan Robitzski | Nov 23, 2022 | 5 min read
Bats are known for staying healthy even while harboring viral infections. Now, research sheds light on how their unusual immune system evolved.
Discover Genetic Influences on the Immune Response
The Genetics Behind Immune Response Variability
The Scientist | 1 min read
Researchers seek genomic clues to understand differences in the immune response to infection.
Sam Katz looks at the camera
Measles Vaccine Developer Samuel Katz Dies at 95
Lisa Winter | Nov 23, 2022 | 3 min read
He also worked on immunizations against polio, rubella, influenza, and more.
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