i really like science and the mental challenge of solving a problem. but for me it also has to be a problem that is of significance in the world.that i really want to do something that will make a difference if at allpossible. what we've been working on recently is the transfer of immune cells from mothersto babies via the milk. and what we found, very interestingly, is that these immune cells pass
into the babies and actually influencethe way the baby's immune system functions, and functions throughoutlife in fact. what these transferred cells do, is that they educate the baby's thymus such that that baby is protected against some of the things that the mother is protected against. these can be infectious organisms and could also be indicators of abnormal cells such as cancerous cells.
in the less-developed world, we could hope to immunize mothers and that immunity can be passedto the babies. and that means that we could immunize,essentially immunize in a biological way, babies before they could receivethe immunization themselves. there's evidence that breastfeeding decreasesthe incidence of things like asthma and both kinds of diabetes. i have people who work in my laboratorywho are at different
levels of their careers. and all of them contribute in tremendous ways. from undergraduates who come in with suchincredible enthusiasm and even jump up and down when they getresults on their experiments, to graduate students who are here for very many hours a day because they'rejust so passionate about their work. so what i get from the other people who work in my lab, and particularly the students, is
an enthusiasm and exposure to new ideas. what's neat about ucr is that it's stilla place where an individual can make a difference. it's a great campus with world-classresearch but also a very large number of people who really care about the student body, about making a difference in their teaching as well as their research.
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