|Thanks to our “innate immunity” a system which is part of our
natural biological makeup we are able to withstand a daily
onslaught of tens of thousands of potentially pathogenic
microbes in air, food and water, and in our interactions with
other people and animals. But our innate immunity can sometimes
get over-stimulated, leading to inflammation of tissue and even
sepsis a deadly infection of blood or tissue. Understanding the
balance between infection resolution and inflammation is the
goal of the new Pathogenomics of Innate Immunity Genome Canada
Competition III project. Dr. Robert E.W.Hancock, Professor of
Microbiology and Immunology at UBC, and Dr. Lorne Babiuk,
Professor of Veterinary Microbiology at the University of
Saskatchewan, are leading the PI2 project, which will draw upon
many of the unique research findings of a previous Genome Canada
project, the Functional Pathogenomics of Mucosal Immunity
Program. The PI2 project will advance our understanding of
immune responses in humans and animals. Spe