Gene and Bear It

Think one flu shot fits all? Think again. This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Vaccines train your immune system to make antibodies, which recognize and help block viruses. But turns out…not everyone makes the same antibodies! Alexandra Fischer and team at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet studied

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Pop-Up Patrol

All quiet on the … digestion front?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your immune system usually “trains” soldier cells at lymph nodes — before shipping them out. But what if the battle is too far away? Enter John Gridley and Arash Grakoui from Emory

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Couch to Clinic

Is the cure for cancer… a jog? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Run for your health, they say. But can you outrun… a tumor? Enter Catherine Phelps from the University of Pittsburgh. Her team studied melanoma-prone mice. Some exercised, others stayed sedentary. Surprisingly, tumor

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Brain Plumbing

Declutter … your brain?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our brains have tiny blood vessels that help drain out cellular waste. So do clogged brain vessels mean weaker learning and memory? Kyungdeok Kim and team at Washington University went down the brain drain.  After blocking

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Not Immune to Alzheimer’s

What if YOU’RE the problem? Dun dun dun! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Normally, our immune system fights infections – and we love that – BUT one of its molecules actually makes Alzheimer’s worse. What to do? Enter Shirin Schneeberger and team.  They looked

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Super Mom’s Immune Superpower

Supermom, activate: baby force field! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Your body’s immune system has its own peacekeepers called regulatory T-cells. They help balance your body’s reactions to invading microbes! But can a pregnant mother’s immune system distinguish HER BABY from a germy invader? 

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Immune Diet

Diets? Spill the IMMUNI-tea! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Many diets are used as treatments, therapies, magical wishes – there’re so many trends! But how does the immune system respond? Verena Link and team at N-I-H Bethesda researched how vegan and ketogenic diets affect

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