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| L-R: Dr Kirsty Wilson, Honours student Julie Tran and Professor Magdalena Plebanski |
In 2010 Professor Magdalena Plebanski observed something that didn’t make sense to her as an immunologist; a nanoparticle made of polystyrene exposed to the lungs of mice was rendering the animal resistant to developing asthma.
But why would it? she asked.
The inert polystyrene particle did not cause inflammation, was non-toxic, safe and protected the mouse against the disease in a similar way to a vaccine. Conventional immunology with its antigens, T cells and antigen-specific responses, didn’t explain it.
