Crystal gazing and the WWW

Superantigens: Gazing into the crystal ball

The recently determined crystal structures of complexes between bacterial toxin 'superantigens' and MHC class II molecules shed light on the nature of the interactions between these two molecules.

Gazing at the crystal rods of malaria.

Hemozoin, the black– brown crystalline byproduct from a parasite’s digestion of hemoglobin, aided the detection of malaria over a century ago when Ronald Ross won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of the transmission of malaria. Hemozoin was useful back then because little was understood of the parasite and hemozoin could be seen without a stain. For years the gold standard for diagnosing malaria...

Crystal ball gazing and the effects of fate.

Gazing into a crystal ball to predict kidney transplant outcome.

Kidney transplantation is the optimal therapy for end-stage kidney disease but requires lifelong immunosuppression. Despite improvements in immunosuppression regimens that have reduced rates of acute transplant rejection, long-term allograft survival remains suboptimal. More than 50% of transplanted kidneys from deceased donors fail within 10 years. In order to improve long-term outcomes, physi...

Crystal-ball gazing--the future of immunological research viewed from the cutting edge.

The concept of gazing into crystal balls to view the future is not something immunologists are particularly prone to do; it is better left to psychics, quacks and astrologers. We are more likely to spend our time looking back, scouring the literature for precedents or clues to explain our latest findings. Yet the 50th Anniversary of the British Society for Immunology (BSI) offers an opportunity...