Tag: Microbes

Quiz: Do You Know Your Immune System?

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This post is part of a miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed.
Cartoon microbes with smiley faces forming the shape of a question mark.
Credit: NIGMS.

Throughout our immunology miniseries, we introduced the immune system and its many functions and components. Additionally, we highlighted how vaccines train your immune system, how the system can go awry, and how NIGMS-supported researchers are studying immunology and infectious diseases. Put your knowledge about the immune system to the test by taking the quiz below.

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What Does an Immunologist Do?

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This post is part of a miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed.

Immunology is the study of the immune system, including all the cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect you from germs. A person who studies immunology is called an immunologist, and there are three types:

  • Researchers, who study the immune system in the laboratory to understand how it works or how it can go awry and find new treatments for immune system-related diseases
  • Doctors, who diagnose and care for patients with diseases related to the immune system, such as food allergies or immunodeficiency
  • Physician-scientists, who are both researchers and doctors and divide their time between the clinic and the laboratory
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How Can the Immune System Go Awry?

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This post is part of a miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed.

The immune system is designed to closely monitor the body for signs of intruders that may cause infection. But what happens if it malfunctions? Overactive and underactive immune systems can both have negative effects on your health.

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What Is the Immune System?

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This post is the first in our miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series!
A sphere with evenly spaced blue projections and a pink core.
A computer-generated image of the rotavirus, a virus that commonly causes illness in children through inflammation of the stomach and intestines. Credit: Bridget Carragher, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California.

What do antibodies, mucus, and stomach acid have in common? They’re all parts of the immune system!

The immune system is a trained army of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to block, detect, and eliminate harmful insults to your body. It can protect you from invaders like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.

Innate and Adaptive

The immune system is often thought of as two separate platoons: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. Although these two platoons have different jobs and are made up of soldiers with different specialties, they work together to prevent infections.

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Diversity Supplement Program Paves the Way for Talented Researchers

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“I hope that one day I’m able to increase our understanding of evolution, and I also hope to increase access to research. I want others to know that this space is open to people who look like me, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and who are underrepresented in the sciences,” says Nkrumah Grant, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate (postdoc) in microbiology and molecular genetics at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing.

Dr. Grant’s work receives support from the NIGMS Diversity Supplement Program (DSP), which is designed to improve the recruitment and training of promising researchers from diverse backgrounds. Diversifying the scientific workforce can lead to new approaches to research questions, increased recruitment of diverse volunteers for clinical studies, an improved capacity to address health disparities, and many other benefits.

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Investigating the Secrets of Cancer-Causing Viruses

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A portrait of Dr. Mandy Muller.
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Mandy Muller.

While she was in graduate school, Mandy Muller, Ph.D., became intrigued with viruses that are oncogenic, meaning they can cause cancer. At the time, she was researching human papillomaviruses (HPVs), which can lead to cervical and throat cancer, among other types. Now, as an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst, Dr. Muller studies Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), which causes the rare AIDS-associated cancer Kaposi sarcoma.

A Continental Change

Dr. Muller has come a long way, both geographically and professionally, since her childhood in France. She was the first person in her family to graduate from high school, where she excelled in science, and went on to attend École Normale Supérieure (ENS) de Lyon, a research-oriented undergraduate institution in Lyon, France. “We spent weeks at a time in laboratory-based classes, working in real labs. That’s when I realized people could do research full-time, which caught my attention,” says Dr. Muller. She double-majored in biology and geology, and soon chose to focus her career on immunology and virology.

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In Other Words: Media—Getting the News and Growing Cells

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The word media may make many of us think about media outlets where we get our news or social media where we keep up with friends. But to biomedical researchers, media is a nutrient-rich liquid that fuels cell cultures—groups of cells grown in a lab. Scientists grow many types of cultures in media, from bacteria to human cells. They use these cultures to learn about basic biological processes and to develop and test new medicines.

Below the title “Media: In Other Words,” two images are separated by a jagged line. On the left is a hand holding a phone using social media with thumbs up and hearts floating off the screen. On the right is a pipette dispensing media into a Petri dish and a media bottle in the background. Under the images, text reads: “Did you know? In biomedical science, media is a nutrient-rich liquid that fuels cell cultures.”
Credit: NIGMS.
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Slideshow: Circles of Life

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Every year on March 14, many people eat pie in honor of Pi Day. Mathematically speaking, pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around the outside) to its diameter (the length from one side of the circle to the other, straight through the center). That means if you divide the circumference of any circle by its diameter, the solution will always be pi, which is roughly 3.14—hence March 14, or 3/14. But pi is an irrational number, which means that the numbers after the decimal point never end. With the help of computers, mathematicians have determined trillions of digits of pi.

To celebrate Pi Day, check out this slideshow of circular microbes, research organisms, and laboratory tools (while you enjoy your pie, of course!). To explore more scientific photos, videos, and illustrations, visit our image and video gallery.

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Career Conversations: Q&A With Organic Chemist Elizabeth Parkinson

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Dr. Parkinson wearing a lab coat and gloves and holding a Petri dish.
Dr. Elizabeth Parkinson. Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Elizabeth Parkinson.

“Being able to discover new, unexpected things is why you wake up every day and go to work as a scientist. The other part is hopefully to have a positive impact on human health—through combatting conditions ranging from antibiotic resistance to cancer,” says Elizabeth Parkinson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of organic chemistry at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In an interview, Dr. Parkinson shared with us her path to a scientific career, research on natural products made by soil-dwelling bacteria, and advice for students.

Q: What sparked your interest in science?

A: My high school freshman biology teacher, Mr. O’Connell, first got me interested in science. He’d bring objects to class, and we’d have to guess how they might relate to the day’s subject matter. One time he brought strawberries, and we isolated DNA from them, which I really enjoyed. I also participated in a science fair for the first time that year. My project focused on how the color of light affected plant growth, and that was a very fun experience.

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Science Snippet: Brush Up on Biofilms

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A biofilm is a highly organized community of microorganisms that develops naturally on certain surfaces. Typically, biofilms are made up of microbes and an extracellular matrix that they produce. This matrix can include polysaccharides (chains of sugars), proteins, lipids, DNA, and other molecules. The matrix gives the biofilm structure and helps it stick to a surface.

Formation of a biofilm often involves a process called quorum sensing. In this process, microbes detect when they reach a certain population density and change their behavior in ways that help them function as a community.

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