Marie Estcourt, from the John Curtin School in Canberra, has describe the mechanism by which a new Australian vaccine strategy can prevent severe viral infections, such as HIV.
"The vaccine strategy we are using involves a two step process with a DNA immunisation followed by a viral immunisation," says Dr Estcourt. "For some reason, this combination results in unprecedented levels of immune response. My work is concerned with working our why it works so well."
"My data suggest that this strategy may be producing a better quality of killer cell that destroys the virus in infected tissues, instead of focussing on antibody production. This is important for HIV infection, because conventional vaccines that are focussed on antibody production are ineffective against infectious organisms that can hide inside cells, like viruses."
Immunology, the study of the body's defences against infection, is Australia's premier science. Three of the four Australian recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology were immunologists.
The Australasian Society for Immunology national conference is a showcase of national and international immunology. Sessions have been organised to explore the roles of the immune system in defence from infectious organisms and cancer, as well as the involvement of the immune system in allergy and autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes and lupus.
Becton-Dickinson are the manufacturers and suppliers of the clinical diagnostic equipment, including the laser-powered cell analysis systems, which are used in the study of immunology.
