ARKANSAS: Grant funds snake immunity research
Snakes have a unique immune strategy that has caught the attention of Arkansas State University Assistant Professor of Physiology Lori Neuman-Lee, who was awarded a $40,000 grant from the Arkansas INBRE to study these creatures and their immunities. “There are two types of immune systems, adaptive and innate,” Neuman-Lee said, noting that reptilian cells are much heavier allowing snakes and other reptiles to use their innate immune system almost exclusively. This allows the snakes to fight off infections rapidly.
Neuman-Lee, who is the PI or primary investigator on the project, said that their grant, which is titled “Characterization of Snake Immunity in a Novel Animal Model,” examines the role of immune cells in snakes.
“It is basically a preliminary sturdy on the influence of sex and age on snakes’ immune systems across Arkansas,” Neuman-Lee said. “There are only a handful of people in the world that study snake immunity, so this is very import research. Plus we are focusing about half and half on field and lab, so we get better results,” she said, noting that they have found interesting results while studying the snakes’ hormone levels and blood samples.