Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 12, 2026

Growing a Cystic Fibrosis-Relevant Polymicrobial Biofilm to Probe Community Phenotypes
Published on: April 19, 2024
Cultivating our "frienemies": viewing immunity as microbiome management
1Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Center for Molecular Immunology and Infectious Disease, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Abstract:
Immunology has been studied and understood in the context of the compelling problems of infectious disease. But our rapidly growing knowledge of immune interactions with our healthy microbiota, and the many benefits it confers, suggests there may be value to an alternative view: that mechanisms of defense against pathogens are one aspect of a complex system with the broader purpose of managing our healthy microbiome. From this perspective, adaptive immunity may be viewed as a flexible system for simultaneously recruiting and managing a near limitless number of potential symbionts. This perspective can allow for reinterpretation of many observations and can suggest new experiments to help us better understand our complex interactions with the microbes that surround us.
More Related Videos
05:41Therapeutic Evaluation of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in an Interleukin 10-Deficient Mouse Model
Published on: April 6, 2022
11:003D Flipwell Engineering for Developing Asynchronous Systems for Toxicologic and Immunomodulatory Therapies in Bacterial, Gut, and Immune Cells
Published on: October 17, 2025
Related Concept Videos
Introduction to the Human Microbiota
The Oral Microbiota
Defense Mechanism Against Infection
In addition, many body organ systems have unique defenses against infection. The skin is an intact, multilayered surface preventing invasion by microorganisms unless impaired. Mucous membranes lining the mouth, nose, and eyelids are barriers...
Development of Human Microbiota
Microbe-Plant Interactions
Defense Against Bacterial Pathogens
Phagocytes
Phagocytes are the frontline soldiers of the immune system. They include neutrophils and macrophages. Neutrophils are the most abundant type of white blood cell and are quickly mobilized to the site of infection. Macrophages are larger cells that patrol...