Virtual Immunity A dandelion head is more than a jumble of its parts. It has order brought about by a natural organisation sometimes called emergence. But this picture is not of a seed head, it’s a visual representation of a database for the innate immune system – our body’s first line of defence against bacteria but which, when it goes wrong, can lead to allergies, asthma and inflammation. Scientists investigating these common diseases painstakingly recorded over 18,000 connections between elements of the system that had been published in the scientific literature. The colours represent when the data were added: 2008-2010 in white and 2011-2012 in red. Computational biologists are using this resource as more than just a library, they’re analysing it for patterns of emergent organisation that could help identify therapeutic targets and bring about widespread improvements for these ailments. Written by Julie Webb — David Lynn Teagasc, Ireland Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY-NC 3.0) Published in Nucleic Acids Research 41(D1): D1228-D1233
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Virtual Immunity

A dandelion head is more than a jumble of its parts. It has order brought about by a natural organisation sometimes called emergence. But this picture is not of a seed head, it’s a visual representation of a database for the innate immune system – our body’s first line of defence against bacteria but which, when it goes wrong, can lead to allergies, asthma and inflammation. Scientists investigating these common diseases painstakingly recorded over 18,000 connections between elements of the system that had been published in the scientific literature. The colours represent when the data were added: 2008-2010 in white and 2011-2012 in red. Computational biologists are using this resource as more than just a library, they’re analysing it for patterns of emergent organisation that could help identify therapeutic targets and bring about widespread improvements for these ailments.

Written by Julie Webb

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

Mock-up in Red The upper chambers of the heart (the atria) are crucial compartments in our body’s blood-pumping device. Electrical signals fired off within their walls drive each heartbeat, pumping blood through the heart and onwards around the body. Physicists and biologists keen to understand what happens when the heart misfires in a common heart condition called atrial fibrilation (AF) have built a virtual heart to test the ‘circuits’. Using computer programming, the team welded together thousands of images of slices through a sheep’s heart to build a 3D replica of the atria (pictured). Multi-coloured flecks show how muscle fibres arrange within the atrial walls. To mimic AF, scientists sent simulated erratic electrical signals through the mock-up. They found that where complex fibres around the pulmonary vein (opening on upper right hand side), connect with neatly aligned fibres below, electrical signals struggle to flow, leading them to the faults caused by AF. Written by Caroline Cross — Today is ‘Rock up in Red’ day, organised by the British Heart Foundation Henggui Zhang The University of Manchester, UK Research published in Interface Focus
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Mock-up in Red

The upper chambers of the heart (the atria) are crucial compartments in our body’s blood-pumping device. Electrical signals fired off within their walls drive each heartbeat, pumping blood through the heart and onwards around the body. Physicists and biologists keen to understand what happens when the heart misfires in a common heart condition called atrial fibrilation (AF) have built a virtual heart to test the ‘circuits’. Using computer programming, the team welded together thousands of images of slices through a sheep’s heart to build a 3D replica of the atria (pictured). Multi-coloured flecks show how muscle fibres arrange within the atrial walls. To mimic AF, scientists sent simulated erratic electrical signals through the mock-up. They found that where complex fibres around the pulmonary vein (opening on upper right hand side), connect with neatly aligned fibres below, electrical signals struggle to flow, leading them to the faults caused by AF.

Written by Caroline Cross

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

The Enemy Within HIV is a deadly virus which hides to survive. Like a spy on the run it blends in – mixing its genome with that of its enemy: our immune defences. Lying undetected inside infected lymphocytes [white blood cells], the virus replicates, its threat slowly growing as it prepares to undermine our defences from within. With a foe as crafty as HIV, future vaccinations must be swift and uncompromising – the immune system must receive the right orders quickly, or perish. Pictured is a computer simulation of the latest weapon against viral espionage: a man-made virus-like particle that presents our immune system with detailed ‘intelligence’ about an enemy virus. Measuring 450,000 times smaller than a passport photo, this blue-coloured particle safely houses tiny pieces of HIV’s chemical structure (shown in yellow and red), allowing immune cells to plan their attack in advance before they face the enemy. Written by John Ankers — Phoebe Stewart Case Western Reserve University, USA Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license Published in PLoS ONE 7(11): e49607
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The Enemy Within

HIV is a deadly virus which hides to survive. Like a spy on the run it blends in – mixing its genome with that of its enemy: our immune defences. Lying undetected inside infected lymphocytes [white blood cells], the virus replicates, its threat slowly growing as it prepares to undermine our defences from within. With a foe as crafty as HIV, future vaccinations must be swift and uncompromising – the immune system must receive the right orders quickly, or perish. Pictured is a computer simulation of the latest weapon against viral espionage: a man-made virus-like particle that presents our immune system with detailed ‘intelligence’ about an enemy virus. Measuring 450,000 times smaller than a passport photo, this blue-coloured particle safely houses tiny pieces of HIV’s chemical structure (shown in yellow and red), allowing immune cells to plan their attack in advance before they face the enemy.

Written by John Ankers

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk