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SUMMARY: 'Infection and autoimmunity: there may be some advantages to co-h
 abitation' - Prof Anne Cooke
DTSTART:20110510T190000Z
DTEND:20110510T201500Z
UID:TALK31136@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:18101
DESCRIPTION:followed by a wine reception\nFREE for members/ 2 pounds for n
 on-members\n\nCompared to a few centuries ago\, our childhood is quite pro
 tected. Our mothers make sure our milk bottles are sterilized\, our toys a
 re germ-free and our scratches treated well. This has given rise to the hy
 giene hypothesis: we may might just be giving our immune system too much o
 f a helping hand. This may be the reason that we see an increasing number 
 of young people with autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases arise as a r
 esult of an attack by an individual’s immune system against self tissue.
  Apart from environmental factors as mentioned above genetics may play a v
 ital role. An example of this is Type I diabetes\, which was lethal until 
 insulin was discovered in the 1920s. The observed increase in people acqui
 ring these diseases cannot be accounted for by genetics alone and scientis
 ts are exploring possible roles infections might play. Prof Anne Cooke is 
 going to demonstrate how all those inconvenient infections our parents are
  trying to protect us from could provide us with long term protection agai
 nst the development of autoimmune diseases like diabetes. By pointing out 
 the complex relationships between humans and infectious organisms that hav
 e arisen through co-evolution she will explain how these can be beneficial
  for us and also what future treatment possibilities we can expect from th
 is knowledge.\n\n\n
LOCATION:The Plant Science Lecture Theatre on Downing Site (www.scisoc.com
  for directions)
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