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DOE OSTI · 1716730

Bradbury Science Museum NOTEs Program Docs: Building Immunity: How fighting HIV and other viruses helps us understand our immune system

Baker, Stacy Leigh
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Abstract

Building Immunity is a unique opportunity to journey through the history and development of your immune system. Our interactive touch table invites each user to choose their own, unique experience as they learn about how fighting HIV and other viruses helps researchers understand how our own immune systems work to keep us healthy. From the Bradbury Science Museum of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the exhibit presents remarkable insight into one of the most ancient and well-traveled organisms on the planet, viruses. Viral epidemics like the H1N1 flu, which killed over 40 million people in 1918, devastate communities around the world and destabilize regions around the globe. Additionally, their ability to mutate quickly creates a “Red Queen” effect, or loop of treated and then treatment-resistant strains of deadly diseases. Increased understanding of the relationships between viruses and our own immune system is crucial to the development of improved treatments and novel vaccines and this research is happening right now at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

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Baker, Stacy Leigh. 2020-11-12. Bradbury Science Museum NOTEs Program Docs: Building Immunity: How fighting HIV and other viruses helps us understand our immune system. https://doi.org/10.2172/1716730

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