Alexander Webster
Graduate Student, Biology

Antibodies are remarkable proteins made by the body's immune system in response to foreign particle contamination. Antibody diversity in a healthy adult allows on the order of 108 different foreign particles to potentially be recognized and eradicated by the immune system. This diagram shows how an HIV-recognizing antibody can not only decorate the surface of an infected cell and slow viral budding, but can also direct 'weaponized' immune cells called granulocytes to kill the infected cell by perforating it with toxic granules.

awebster@caltech.edu