A team under the direction of Stanford bioengineer Steve Quake, PhD, has shown that a noninvasive blood test can accurately diagnose lung-transplant rejection. The test also …
Category: Immunology
A Stanford dietician talks food sensitivities
Ever wondered what the difference between a food allergy and a food sensitivity is? Neha Shah, MPH, RD, CNSC, a registered dietician at the Stanford …
Researchers tackle unusual challenge in polio eradication
Polio is a tricky foe. One of the biggest hurdles in the World Health Organization's polio eradication campaign is that the virus causes no symptoms …
Drugs for bugs: Industry seeks small molecules to target, tweak and tune up our gut microbes
My first encounter with microbiologist Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, came when I was researching "Caution: Do Not Debug," an article I wrote five years ago for …
Peanut products and babies: Now okay?
Updated 2-25-15: Allergy expert Sharon Chinthrajah, MD, discussed the study and its implications on KQED's Forum today: *** 2-24-15: Any parent of young children is …
A discussion of vaccines, “the single most life-saving innovation ever in the history of medicine”
In a recent, in-depth interview with KCBS Radio, now available online, Stanford immunologist Mark Davis, PhD, called vaccines “the single most life-saving medical innovation ever …
With a Gates Foundation grant, Stanford launches major effort to expedite vaccine discovery
The vaccine field got a major boost today with the announcement that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will invest $50 million in a new …
Is honey the new antibiotic?
...Well, not quite. But recent research shows that honey does have infection-fighting properties surprisingly similar to the common antibiotic ampicillin. And even more importantly, honey …
A look at our disappearing microbes
Could obesity, asthma, allergies, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer all share a common epidemiological origin? NYU microbiologist Martin Blaser, MD, thinks so – he …
Blocking a receptor on brain’s immune cells counters Alzheimer’s in mice
Attention, nerve cells: It's not all about you. As a new study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation led by Stanford neuroscientist Kati Andreasson, MD, …
Stanford-developed smart phone blood-testing device wins international award
When I worked as an epidemiologist, one of my jobs was with a program that prevented perinatal hepatitis B infections. That’s when a woman with …
Paradox: Antibiotics may increase contagion among Salmonella-infected animals
Make no mistake: Antibiotics have worked wonders, increasing human life expectancy as have few other public-health measures (let's hear it for vaccines, folks). But about …
Stanford Medicine magazine traverses the immune system
If you want to understand the human immune system, try studying humans - not mice. That's what Mark Davis, PhD, urges in a special report …
Ivy and Bean help encourage kids to get vaccinated
Last week, I took my two little boys to get their shots, including the MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella. Although, as …
Study: Pregnancy causes surprising changes in how the immune system responds to the flu
When pregnant women get influenza, they tend to get really sick. Flu complications such as pneumonia are more common in pregnant women than other healthy …
Gut bacteria may influence effectiveness of flu vaccine
Past research has shown that the microbes living in your gut can dictate how body fat is stored, hormone response and glucose levels in the …