Innate immunity constitutes the body’s first line of defence against invading pathogens. This ancient, evolutionarily conserved system is activated within minutes of encountering foreign agents, ...

This story is one in a series marking International Women and Girls in Science Day. Join us as we celebrate some laboratory leaders taking research to new heights. As an assistant professor of ...

An essential component of many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, are proteases which cleave its own proteins as well as those in the cell. Many viruses rely on proteases to process polypeptides into ...

Humans are protected by two branches of the immune system. Innate immunity provides built-in defense against widespread characteristics of bacteria and viruses, while adaptive immunity memorizes ...

SARS-CoV-2 has an enzyme that can counteract a cell's innate defense mechanism against viruses, explaining why it is more infectious than the previous SARS and MERS-causing viruses. The discovery may ...

Pathogens are ubiquitous and a constant threat to their hosts, which has led to the evolution of sophisticated immune systems in bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Bacterial immune systems encode an ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American The very first line of defence against any ...

In several disease conditions, including infections and cancers, innate immune activation and nutrient scarcity occur together. A study from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital published today in ...

Research from Radboud university medical center reveals that T cells from the adaptive immune system can manipulate the memory of innate immune cells. Previously, it was believed that the memory of ...

When a transplanted organ arrives, it’s like a controlled burn that risks becoming a wildfire. The body’s innate immune system senses damage signals, like heat shock proteins (HSP70), and sounds the ...