AG Insect Health and Biology (Dalial Freitak)

Innate immunity
The immune system has evolved to protect us from disease. Innate defences are of particular interest as their effectiveness often determines the fate of encounters with pathogens. It is important to understand how innate immune responses are shaped and reinforced by the environment as well as parental experiences. Insects are excellent models to study evolution and the mechanisms behind immunity. The absence of antibodies in insects led to a long-standing assumption that immunity in insects lacks adaptive traits - this was found to be untrue. It has been shown that immune priming is also possible in other ways. Here we investigate the physiological and behavioural mechanism that leads to a more resistant phenotype.