St Vincent’ s Fairview
The Exemption
of the hormones that set off reactions are chemical compounds consisting of amino acids in a chain, and these molecules, which are usually quite small, are known as peptides.
Hoffman’ s persistence eventually paid off, and a peptide known as Toll, originating in a dorsal region of the insect, was found to be the elusive switch that turned everything on.
Experiments with insects with a mutation for the Toll gene revealed that flies without this trigger were rapidly overwhelmed by invading microbes.
It was then found that Toll is far from unique, and Bruce A Beutler, working in the US, was able to demonstrate that a number of similar Toll triggers exist in mammals. Since then Toll-like triggers have been found to be a universal part of our immune system, a discovery that would probably never have been made without Hoffmann’ s dedication to fruit flies.
Immunity has two lines of defence, the first, an innate response, comes into play immediately a micro-organism is recognized as an invader. The innate response attempts to destroy the invaders by mounting a defence, and in evolutionary terms, this is the older system and it is general in that it is non-specific to any particular pathogen.
If the invaders manage to break through the innate barrier, an adaptive system comes into action in which killer cells attack specific targets. What are known as T and B cells seek out particular micro-organisms for destruction in what is literally a fight to the death. Unlike the innate response, the adaptive system‘ learns’ from one attack that another one could be on the way. Second time around, the adaptive immune system is primed and ready to respond quickly, and for this reason we can acquire a high degree of immunity by deliberately introducing disabled versions of common pathogens through vaccination.
How important is immunology? Apart from the obvious importance to general health, Irish researchers are among the world leaders in this field. Based on the number of times that scientific papers are quoted, Ireland is in the best three top-performing countries, and Science Foundation Ireland has acknowledged that Trinity College Dublin is currently stands out as in the top one per cent worldwide for immunology research.
Other universities such as NUI Maynooth are actively involved in immunology research, and this is a field that attracts substantial funding from private and institutional sources.
Immunology is regarded as one of the key elements in maintaining Ireland’ s position as a good place to invest in science. For this reason SFI, in collaboration with industry, is a big supporter of a high-powered Strategic Research Cluster at TCD headed by Professor Kingston Mills.
St Vincent’ s Fairview
Hidden away in an area with lots of historical associations, St Vincent’ s Hospital in Fairview has an fascinating history. Aidan Collins tells how so many colourful figures, such as the Sham Squire, Grose the antiquarian, and James Joyce all have close connections to St Vincents, and the hospital itself began with a scandal, so shameful that for years the truth was suppressed.
Available, paperback € 25 or hardback € 35 Postfree from www. sciencespin. com
Albertine Kennedy Publishing
The Exemption
An amazing story of survival through some of the darkest years of Europe’ s recent history. Vera Hajnal tells of how invasion soon shattered an idyllic childhood. Growing up in a secure and loving family, going to school and sometimes being allowed help her father, a doctor, Vera’ s first shock came when, accompanying her grandmother to the railway station, she was stopped by men wearing armbands who asked:“ Are you Jewish?”
Vera describes how she survived the years that followed, and amazingly, her account has no trace of bitterness and throughout it all she never lost faith in the underlying goodness of people. Her own survival, as people were being literally rounded up and shot by paramilitary thugs, was remarkable in that on being contronted on the street she happened to be carrying a piece of paper exempting her father from military service.
Hardback € 25 Post free from www. sciencespin. com