The developed world’s success in extending individual life expectancies  has allowed people to grow old enough to need a second volley of vaccines against infectious diseases. Older bodies’ natural defense systems tend to lose some of their punch, and vaccines can ward off — or at least weaken the severity of — a few diseases capable of inflicting extreme discomfort or worse among otherwise robust seniors.

Not that it’s always easy to convince them this is the case. But Peter Pompei, MD, associate professor of medicine at Stanford, is working on it.

Tagged: longevity, vaccines, Human Health, Medicine

Tobacco plants could act as safe, speedy factories for growing antibodies for personalized treatments against a common form of cancer, without the side effects of traditional chemotherapy.

Tagged: cancer, healthcare, vaccines, Human Health, Medicine, Faculty