History of Immunology

There should be billboards, social media posts, and advertisements on television and the Internet to remind us all what this looks like. Given what’s going on in the anti-VAX movement, this could easily happen again.

Despite centuries of examples, long-term maladies after flu and other viruses remain absent from mainstream policy

The story of the discovery of these molecules 50 years ago shows how the free exchange of ideas can lead to life-changing treatments.

Sad news.
Great idea from Zelig Eshhar, that will remain in the scientific and therapeutic memory, like that of the immune system

🎧 Chapitre 4 — « Les exploits des Cellules CAR-T »
👉 Écouter le podcast : https://lnkd.in/embAf-rn

Tour | The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867 | East Texas History

Today in retrospect: April 12, 1955.


The world exhaled in relief.

On this day, 70 years ago, Dr. Jonas Salk announced a medical breakthrough that changed history—a successful vaccine against polio.

At the time, the disease had paralyzed over 18,000 and killed 1,300 Americans in 1954 alone—many of them children. Parents lived in constant fear.

But by 1955, hope was restored.
The U.S. government moved swiftly, licensing six pharmaceutical companies to produce and distribute the vaccine.

The result?

→ Within a year, polio deaths dropped by 50%.

→ Over the decades, the disease was driven to near-eradication worldwide.

A powerful reminder:

Innovation saves lives—when science meets leadership and urgency.

Brought to you courtesy of KapFou.


🎥Human Progress
| 24 comments on LinkedIn

The scientists who fought pertussis, and what they lost before they won.

Timeline of major research and development milestones related to the microbiome

Here’s a snapshot of how we got from Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s first look at microbes to the "multi-omics era" shaping personalized medicine today:

📜 1670s – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observes microorganisms for the first time.
🌱 1729 – Pier Antonio Micheli pioneers fungal classification.
🦠 1880s–1900s – Robert Koch formalizes germ theory; Alfred Nissle isolates the first probiotic E. coli strain.
💊 1928 – Alexander Fleming discovers antibiotics.
🧫 1958 – Ben Eiseman reports success with fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) in treating C. difficile.
🧪 1972 – First germ-free mice raised to study host–microbe interactions.
🧬 1995 – First complete bacterial genome sequenced (Haemophilus influenzae).
🌍 2007 – Human Microbiome Project launched.
🔄 2013 – FMT enters modern clinical practice for recurrent C. difficile.
🧠 2016–2020 – Studies link microbiota to cancer therapy response, depression, and gut–brain signaling.
🧷 2022 – Metagenome-assembled genomes expand our catalog of microbial diversity; dietary flavonoids shown to alleviate depressive symptoms.

https://lnkd.in/gqrz3nUD

Happy 100th birthday to my PhD advisor Jack Leonard Strominger!!! 100 years of life. 74 years of running a lab. Words cannot describe how much of an inspiration you are to me and so many others. Carpe diem!

Aujourd’hui, retour sur une page méconnue de l’histoire de la vaccination 💉 et un espoir concret contre les bactéries ultra-résistantes grâce à la technologie ARNm, accélérée par le Covid.
Mais RFK Jr, lui, préfère geler les financements.
Résultat : des vies en danger.

L’obscurantisme tue. Littéralement.

Before the development of the polio vaccine, the world witnessed the devastating effects of the polio pandemic, especially on children. Polio, a viral disease, often led to paralysis of the respiratory muscles, making it extremely difficult for affected children to breathe. For many, the disease was a death sentence, as their weakened lungs were unable to function on their own. The introduction of artificial breathing machines, known as "Iron Lungs," provided a lifeline to those who were unable to breathe unaided, giving them a chance to survive. The Iron Lung was a large, mechanical respirator that helped children breathe by creating a vacuum around their body, forcing air into their lungs and allowing them to inhale and exhale. Though it was an incredible technological breakthrough, children often had to spend months confined within these machines, which were not only physically restrictive but also emotionally taxing. The machine would provide life-saving support until the child's respiratory muscles regained enough strength to function independently. Despite the crucial role of the Iron Lung in saving lives, the survival rate was still low, and many children who were treated with this device did not survive. The machines, though revolutionary at the time, couldn't guarantee recovery, and the physical and emotional toll of long-term confinement was immense. It wasn’t until the development of the polio vaccine that the world could begin to effectively combat the disease, ultimately putting an end to the suffering caused by polio and reducing the need for these life-saving, but often ineffective, machines.

MIB s’associe à l’ensemble de la communauté scientifique pour rendre hommage au Pr. Michel Fougereau, disparu le 4 juillet 2025 à l’âge de 91 ans.

Pionnier de l’enseignement de l’immunologie à Aix-Marseille dès les années 1970, il a formé des générations d’étudiants avec exigence et clarté. Son enseignement, rassemblé dans un ouvrage dense et fondateur, a marqué toute une époque.

Chercheur d’exception, il a séquencé avec son équipe la première immunoglobuline de souris, contribuant à percer les mécanismes de reconnaissance des anticorps et à définir le récepteur pré-lymphocytaire B. Cofondateur du CIML, membre de l’EMBO et de l’Institut universitaire de France (IUF), il a œuvré toute sa vie au rayonnement de la recherche française.

Bâtisseur d’institutions, initiateur de formations innovantes, conseiller au Ministère chargé de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche, président de la SFI Société Française d'Immunologie, il a su allier rigueur scientifique, vision académique et transmission des savoirs.

Au-delà de ses titres, nous garderons de lui le souvenir d’un homme exigeant, visionnaire et profondément engagé pour le progrès des sciences de la vie.

Merci Professeur.

📖 Extraits de l’hommage rédigé par : Philippe NAQUET, José Rocca-Serra, Anne-Marie Schmitt-Verhulst, Claudine Schiff.

Intrigued by the new hypothesis from Furmanski and Murcia that the 1918 influenza pandemic may have emerged through reassortment in horses—not pigs or birds.

Their paper, published last month in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, argues that wartime equine mobilization created ideal conditions for avian and human viruses to mix. Horses, like pigs, express both α2,3 and α2,6 sialic acid receptors, making them potential “bridge hosts” for influenza evolution.

A fascinating intersection of molecular virology and historical epidemiology—and a reflection of how hard it is to piece together how pandemics begin.

📄 https://lnkd.in/d7PRkQEJ

🧵 I wrote about it here:

Did you know that we have millions of different antibodies, but each white blood cell in our immune system produces only one kind of antibody?

In 1975 Georges Köhler and Cesar Milstein developed a method to fuse a normal antibody-producing cell with a tumour cell, forming a hybrid that was both immortal and could create a specific antibody. Their hybrid cell could produce antibodies of the same type – monoclonal antibodies – in whatever quantities are needed for research and medicine.

The production of monoclonal antibodies has enabled researchers to improve tests for infectious diseases, design completely new therapeutic strategies for diseases such as cancer, better explain the mechanisms behind autoimmune diseases and suppress rejection in organ transplants among other breakthroughs.

While the market for monoclonal antibodies is now worth billions of dollars, Köhler and Milstein did not patent their technique or benefit financially by forming a company, instead remaining in research.

Köhler shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Niels K. Jerne and César Milstein. Learn more about their work: https://bit.ly/3XLsMYX

Image: Anti-Cancer Antibodies. Small chemical ornaments (cones) slow the release of anti-cancer antibodies (blue) from this functionalised mesoporous silica (orange). | 19 commentaires sur LinkedIn

"The refusal or inability of global health to consider the wider picture of international economic and political inequalities suggests that most of its practitioners are content to remain as saviors, even if the cost includes a world organized to produce the victims they purportedly rescue"

Jesse Bump is spot on, more so after the past couple of months

https://lnkd.in/ezB8F_zt