The innate immune system, our body's first line of defense against infection, is a double-edged sword. Normal function results in the identification and destruction of viruses and bacteria that threaten our health. An innate immune system run amok, however, can result in the development of acute inflammatory diseases such as sepsis and chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis.
Researchers in the laboratory of ISB Director and Co-Founder Alan Aderem recently made a significant step in understanding how the immune system is regulated. Using systems approaches, including mathematical and computational modeling, researchers predicted and validated previously unknown cellular circuitry that enables the immune system to evaluate the threat level and respond appropriately.
"Good vaccines require stimulation of the innate immune system. This new understanding might allow us to build better vaccines by activating an appropriate inflammatory response," said Vladimir Litvak, a senior research scientist at ISB and lead author of the study.
A paper addressing the research was published recently in Nature Immunology. ISB authors include Vladimir Litvak, Stephen A. Ramsey, Alistair G. Rust, Daniel E. Zak, Kathleen A. Kennedy, Aaron E. Lampano, Matti Nykter, Ilya Shmulevich and Alan Aderem.
Developing new technologies is a fundamental component of ISB's approach to transforming healthcare. ISB researchers recently announced the development of three technologies driving the advance of predictive and preventive healthcare. New insight into how cells collect and process information
Disease results from changes in molecular or cellular networks caused by genetic or environmental factors. Measuring the complex reactions of these networks is critical if researchers are to develop methods for prevention or pre-symptomatic diagnosis and treatment of disease. ISB researchers recently announced the development of a microfluidic technology capable of studying how hundreds of individual cells respond to environmental changes.
"This is a very exciting advance that will have significant applications any time researchers try to understand how cells collect, process and respond to information about their environment," said Tim Galitski, PhD, associate professor at ISB. "In a single run, we can preprogram on-chip changes in the microenvironment for hundreds of separate experiments on live cells while gathering data about physical changes and gene-expression responses, and make it all happen at the push of a button."
A paper describing the platform was published earlier this year by Galitski and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ISB authors include Stephen A. Ramsey, Ilya Shmulevich and Tim Galitski.
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