Vaccine ingredients could be hiding in small molecule libraries

Many vaccines include ingredients called adjuvants that help make them more effective by eliciting a stronger immune response. Identifying potential adjuvants just got easier, thanks to an approach described by scientists ...

How plants shut the door on infection

Plants have a unique ability to safeguard themselves against pathogens by closing their pores—but until now, no one knew quite how they did it. Scientists have known that a flood of calcium into the cells surrounding the ...

Study reveals dynamics of crucial immune system proteins

Of the many marvels of the human immune system, the processing of antigens by the class I proteins of the major histocompatability complex (MHC-I) is among the most mind-boggling. Exactly how these proteins carry out their ...

Molecules form gels to help cells sense and respond to stress

A specific protein inside cells senses threatening changes in its environment, such as heat or starvation, and triggers an adaptive response to help the cell continue to function and grow under stressful conditions, according ...

Could contaminated land actually be good for trees?

The very act of tolerating some forms of soil pollution may give trees an advantage in the natural world, says University of Montreal plant biologists. Their findings were published this week in BMC Plant Biology.

Increasing crop resistance to pathogens

We all know that animals have an immune system - but plants have systems to fight infection too. Plant cells have receptor proteins which bind with parts of a pathogen. These receptor proteins are located on the surface of ...

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