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Written by Akila Rekima and the University of Western Australia. For the full UWA press release, click here.
A research team at UWA is investigating the complex interactions of breast milk with allergens and baby’s gut immune system.
They’ve found that food-derived but also airborne allergens are present in breast milk. Some do give protection and reduce allergies later in life.
Read More about New clues for allergy prevention by breast milkResearchers discover that protective immune cells are not created equally
Personalised treatment of cancers has moved one step closer, thanks to University of Melbourne researcher Dr Susan Christo.
Increasingly, cancers are being treated using an approach called immunotherapy – which uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight the disease.
However, challenges arise in so-called “solid cancers”, such as melanoma, where access may be limited so the cancer-fighting immune cells cannot penetrate the tumour site.
Read More about One step closer to understanding cancer-fighting immune cellsResearchers discover how whooping cough is evolving paving the way to a new vaccine.
Whooping cough strains are adapting to better infect humans, a team of Sydney researchers has found.
The scientists, led by microbiologist Dr Laurence Luu of the University of New South Wales, may have solved the mystery of why, despite widespread vaccinations, the respiratory disease has been resurgent in Australia across the past decade. There have been more than 200,000 cases recorded during the period.
Read More about Whooping cough is fighting back.
Adelaide researchers find how a bacteria digests a sugar can be key to new treatments
The severity of a common and often lethal type of bacteria depends on its ability to process a type of sugar, research from the University of Adelaide reveals.
Streptococcus pneumoniae causes diseases of the lungs, blood, ear and brain, killing an estimated one million people every year. Moreover S. pneumoniae causes otitis media (infection of the middle ear), which devastates Aboriginal populations. It also rapidly develops resistance to antibiotics, making it challenging to treat.
Read More about Sugar found to boost lethal bacteria