Inside lymph nodes lie germinal centers, tiny biological factories where antibody-producing B cells generate a coordinated immune response against infectious diseases. The Irvine Lab develops nanoparticle vaccines that target specific cell types to jumpstart this process.

This image was taken to see if the nanoparticles (blue) would home in on follicular dendritic cells (orange), which orchestrate B cell proliferation and antibody production in germinal centers. While this particular vaccine takes aim at HIV, targeted delivery of nanoparticles within the lymph nodes could combat many other diseases as well, including cancer.

This image was acquired using a Nikon A1R Ultra-Fast Spectral Scanning Confocal Microscope.