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March 1, 2002

“Vaccine Funding to Help Fight Against Disease”

Scotsman (www.scotsman.com) (02/27/02) P. 13; Urquhart, Frank

The United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council has awarded Dundee University in Scotland a grant worth 1.2 million pounds in order for Dundee to create and develop new vaccines that harness dendric cells, special cells in the body’s immune system, to prevent disease.  Dendric cells are important in the creation of improved vaccines, because their function is to notify the body’s lymphocytes about infections or diseases that are attacking the body, which prompts the lymphocytes to launch an appropriate response.  A Dundee University spokesperson explained, “When we get an infection, or when we are vaccinated, [dendric cells] capture some of the foreign material and travel to other parts of the body where they engage the lymphocytes that ultimately eliminate the infection.”

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