Quorum Sensing: A Post-Antibiotic World
One hundred years ago, tuberculosis was the most likely cause of death here in Canada. But since the discovery of streptomycin in the 1950s and its use in combination with...
A Necessary Evil: Are Parasites More Useful Than You Think?
Cleanliness is overrated In 1989, British epidemiologist David P. Strachan reported a relationship between decreasing family size and increasing incidence of allergies in industrialized countries, suggesting that early exposure to...
Not Your Ancestor’s Potato
[caption id="attachment_1716" align="alignright" width="191"] Irish Famine Memorial in Boston, MA. Photo Credit: Kieran Manion[/caption] If you were to walk around asking people what they thought about mushrooms you would likely...
Canadian Biotechnology: Focus on Future Investments instead of Past Successes
Did you know that two Canadian scientists, Banting and Best, discovered insulin? Even without its namesake, I am almost certain everyone would know who invented the Canadarm. We Canadians love...
Harnessing 450 Million Years of Evolution: Lamprey Antibodies for Modern Biomarker Technology
[caption id="attachment_1529" align="alignleft" width="369"] Image courtesy of ancestryimages.com.[/caption] Research into the immunobiology of jawless vertebrates has identified an adaptive immune system of clonally diverse lymphocytes expressing the variable lymphocyte receptor...
The CRISPR Craze: Infographic
The discovery of an ancient adaptive immune system in bacteria, called the CRISPR/Cas system, has revolutionized modern science. The bacterial proteins that identify and target viral DNA for degradation have...
MaRS Phase II: Still a Discovery District?
[caption id="attachment_1585" align="aligncenter" width="622"] Events in the development of MaRS Phase I & II. Compiled by Heather MacGregor and Catherine Schrankel. Image credit: Charles Tran and Kieran Manion.[/caption]
Controlling CRISPR
As our understanding of CRISPR/Cas9 technology grows, the extraordinary potential of this gene-editing system in the realm of therapeutic development comes closer and closer to realization. However, ownership of the...
The Graduate Entrepreneur: How to Start a Startup during your PhD
An infographic article published in the March 2014 issue of IMMpress Magazine unveiled, for the first time, the career trajectories of graduate alumni from the Department of Immunology, showing the...
Downloading your Diagnosis
Your phone is more than just a communication device. It is your alarm clock, your calendar, your bus schedule, and your record collection. It is personalized; a digitalization of day-to-day...