Bodies and Antibodies - New Vaccines Through Genetic Engineering - Lecture 4

Explore genetic engineering techniques for vaccine development in this 56-minute lecture from The Royal Institution's 1984 Christmas Lectures series. Discover how scientists use genetic engineering to create new types of vaccines and learn about the body's immune system, including how white blood cells called lymphocytes produce antibodies to detect foreign substances like bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Understand the vaccination process and how it primes the body to respond quickly to real infections by using killed viruses or other preparations. Examine the body's ability to recognize foreign tissue from other people, which necessitates matching for blood transfusions and organ transplants, and learn how the same tissue types involved in graft rejection help regulate the immune system. Investigate what happens when the immune system malfunctions and attacks the body's own tissues, causing autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or juvenile diabetes in genetically susceptible individuals. Delve into how genetic engineering techniques have enabled scientists to characterize antibody and tissue type genes, opening new possibilities for controlling the body's recognition system and potentially treating the diseases it sometimes causes, as well as preventing graft rejection.