Dendritic Cell
The dendritic cell is the detective of the immune system — it patrols the body, collects evidence (pieces of pathogens), and presents it to other immune cells to kick off the right response. It is one of the most important cells for connecting the first line of defence to the more targeted immune response.
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!