Germinal centers form in the body’s lymphatic tissues shortly after vaccination or infection. Once inside a germinal center, B cells undergo rapid mutations and, through a process of natural selection ...

If B cells are the munitions factories of the immune system, manufacturing antibodies to neutralize harmful pathogens, then the tiny biological structures known as germinal centers are its ...

Germinal centers are high-speed evolution machines. Tiny clusters in the lymph nodes, germinal centers refine antibodies through mutation and expansion until they produce high-affinity B cells adapted ...

The germinal centers that form in the body's lymph nodes work as a fitness boot camp in which B cells evolve to produce antibodies of increasingly higher affinity to an invading pathogen. This new ...

A new study tracking thousands of B cells across more than 100 germinal centers in mice reveals how the system consistently produces highly effective antibodies. The findings overturn longstanding ...

mRNA vaccines, such as those used against COVID-19, are effective at generating antibody responses. These antibodies are produced through specialized immune structures called germinal centers, but ...

Side-by-side images of germinal centers before and after photoactivation. Researchers used a novel technique to study in fine detail the evolution of high affinity B cells. [Tatsuya Araki, Victora Lab ...

Germinal centres are specialized structures that are found in the follicles of secondary lymphoid tissues. Here, B cells are stimulated by antigen and T-helper cells to undergo maturation, leading to ...

While most germinal centers shut down after a few weeks, some stay in business for more than six months. A new study helps explain why. If B cells are the munitions factories of the immune system, ...

A new study provides mechanistic insights into how live attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccines (LAVs) can protect monkeys from infection with pathogenic SIV. The authors show that ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 18, 2016) - When it comes to selecting for B cells that produce antibodies to hostile viruses and bacteria, the immune system hedges its bets. Within the germinal centers ...