ARTICLE EXTRAS
At a recent lab meeting, Hudson's postdoc, Sarah Perkins, was presenting an idea to test how an intestinal worm and a respiratory bacterium, Bordetella bronchiseptica, interact inside the body of a mouse. Such interactions can be important: Julius Wagner von Jaurugg received the 1927 Nobel Prize by showing that the intense fevers of malaria could be used to wipe out syphilis. Perkins suggests that the two parasites may regulate each others' numbers through Th1 and Th2 cytokines, which are thought to interact antagonistically.
Poss takes in the presentation from the back of the room and finally interjects: "I don't know why you're asking about Bordetella and a gastrointestinal parasite."
"Our hypothesis," Perkins responds, "is that an interaction would be immune-mediated." Perkins isn't looking for a direct interaction she says, but an indirect one shaped by the Th1-Th2 tradeoff. From firsthand experience, Poss says, their data would be hard ...
