Resurrecting Antibodies from 1918 Flu Pandemic Survivors

Host: Mark Nolan Hill, MD Guest: James Crowe, MD First published in 2005, the story of how we've come to understand the complete sequence of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus begins years ago, in a remote Alaskan village, and continues today in research across the country. What are we learning about a virus that has taken many decades to comprehend? Dr. James Crowe, Jr., professor of microbiology and immunology, and director of the Vanderbilt Program for Vaccine Sciences at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and one of the researchers leading this expansive project, tells host Dr. Mark Nolan Hill that antibody recognition may actually bear a strong resemblance to cognitive memory. What does Dr. Crowe mean by this? Do we know how the immune system would respond if survivors were infected with this influenza virus?