The last Deans’ Seminar in the 2020-21 series will be held this Friday, April 16, 2021. Ian Clift, Program Director for Clinical Laboratory Sciences, will present his research entitled “Immune Detection and Defense against Disease.” We will meet at noon (before the Academic Senate meeting) via zoom: https://iu.zoom.us/j/93176192536
Abstract
The job of the immune system is to defend the body from disease. Despite the recent claims by the public health authority that we will need their help to defend against viral threats; the human body has been doing a pretty good job of it for countless generations without them. It does this through the production of a variety of directed cellular and biological products. However, there are some threats that the immune system has a more difficult time defending against; namely, cancer and autoimmune disease – which often result from sub-clinical viral infections. The generalized immune response to viral threats including to the virus causing COVID-19 will be explored, as will an examination of the immune response to cancer. A discussion of why the immune response succeeds and fails in these cases will be examined and a case will be presented.