Antibody Found for Pathogenic Prions

by Science News Staff

Scientists have found an antibody to the aberrant protein found in the dreaded "mad cow disease" and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans. The serendipitous discovery, reported in tomorrow's issue of...

10 October 1997 | ScienceNOW

Second Shot at Making Antibodies

by Science News Staff

Some sentries of the immune system--so-called B cells, which are charged with checking out the passersby of the bloodstream--undergo a type of basic training. As a B cell develops, it...

3 September 1997 | ScienceNOW

A Sense of Self

by Science News Staff

Today would have been the 98th birthday of Frank Burnet, an Australian immunologist and virologist who explained how the body's immune system distinguishes between "self" and "nonself." Burnet studied viruses...

28 July 1997 | ScienceNOW

Aboriginal Clue to Hepatitis

by Science News Staff

Today is the 72nd birthday of Baruch Blumberg, an American research physician whose work has led to blood screening and a vaccine against hepatitis B. As chief of the geographic...

25 July 1997 | ScienceNOW

Vaccine Fortifies Milk to Build Immunity

by Science News Staff

BOZEMAN, MONTANA--Antibodies in mother's milk help protect newborn mammals against many infectious diseases in the critical first few weeks of life. Now scientists report their first success in boosting these...

18 July 1997 | ScienceNOW

A Bloody Measure

by Science News Staff

In search of tiny amounts of antibodies, medical physicist Rosalyn Yalow developed a technique that came up very big for biomedical researchers. Tomorrow is the 76th birthday of the Nobel...

30 June 1997 | ScienceNOW

Russia to Get New TB Center

by Science News Staff

After taking a several-month hiatus from the Russian science scene, philanthropist George Soros is at it again: The billionaire financier has ponied up $3 million to create two new labs...

27 June 1997 | ScienceNOW

Monkey Mono

by Science News Staff

Kiss the wrong person and you might get mononucleosis, which could mean days laid up in bed with swollen glands and fatigue. For monkeys, however, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) responsible...

13 June 1997 | ScienceNOW

Complements to the Host

by Science News Staff

Jules Bordet, a pioneer in immunology, was born on this day in 1870. The Belgian scientist is best known for figuring out how to detect immunity to bacteria or viruses....

13 May 1997 | ScienceNOW

Baltimore to Head Caltech

by Science News Staff

In a surprising move, the California Institute of Technology announced today that it has named Nobel Prize-winning virologist David Baltimore as its new president. "It's a great appointment for Caltech...

6 May 1997 | ScienceNOW

A Shot to the Nose May Knock Out Flu

by Science News Staff

WASHINGTON, D.C.--A new type of flu vaccine, delivered in a nasal spray, has produced an immune response in children in a small field trial. Researchers don't yet know whether the...

7 January 1997 | ScienceNOW

An Immune Killer's Modus Operandi

by Science News Staff

Scientists appear to have unraveled a mysterious chain of biochemical events that leads to scleroderma, a sometimes-fatal immune disease. But experts disagree about whether the findings, reported in the current...

20 November 1996 | ScienceNOW

Assembly Line for Immune Model T's?

by Science News Staff

During its teenage years, the human body permanently shuts down production of T cells--a crucial immune defender against infection--like a country shutting down an ammunition factory during a war. Although...

7 October 1996 | ScienceNOW

Immunology Breakthrough Earns Nobel Prize

by Science News Staff

The 1996 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Australia's Peter C. Doherty and Switzerland's Rolf Zinkernagel for their breakthrough insights into the inner workings of the...