I’ve been back from the Australian Health and Medical Research
Congress, a 6 day research fest, for a couple of weeks now.
However, my brain is still full with the heady delights of the
work I experienced there. My students gave reasonably well
received talks, and I have a whole grab bag of experiments to do
now (or get my students to do). While there were many things
that were of deep societal interest at the conference, one of
the things that struck me most was a throwaway line in a lecture
about cell adhesion. Nectin, a “molecular Velcro” that helps
cells stick together is a member if the Ig superfamily. To
explain why it set a light bulb off in my head, and how the
knowledge that molecular Velcro shares a structure with
immunoglobulins throws deep insight into the evolution of the
adaptive immune system, I will beg you patience and do a very
brief review of the immune system first. Animals have many
defences against invading microorganisms, from simple passive
barriers such as skin to the immune system. W