B Cell
The B cell is the cupid of the immune system — it produces antibodies that seek out and tag viruses for destruction. Once a B cell encounters a pathogen, it can remember it for life and respond even faster if it ever returns. This is the basis of how vaccines work.
Illustrations Credit: Dr Kiho Tanaka is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.
Content Review Credit: Carles Araya is a peer navigator at Living Positive Victoria and a member of the Melbourne HIV Cure Consortium Community Advisory Board. Dr Hannah King and Dr Paula Cevaal are postdoctoral research fellows at the Peter Doherty Institute.
These are simplified summaries of what the cells do in our body. In fact, they do a lot more than what we have shown here, for example they also play crucial roles in controlling cancer. We hope through this graphical summary people feel more familiar with their own immune cells and this serves as a fun introduction to cell biology!