B6

Question 1

What is a Vaccination?

Answer 1

It is a dead or inactivated form of the disease-causing micro-organism. It simulates your body’s natural immune response to invading pathogens

Question 2

How do antibiotics work?

Answer 2

Antibiotics such as penicillin, work by killing the bacteria that cause disease whilst they are inside your body. They damage the bacterial cells without harming your own cells.

Question 3

Who found Penicillin?

Answer 3

Alexander Fleming

Question 4

How much and how long does it take for a new medicine to bring to your doctor’s surgery?

Answer 4

12 years and it costs around £1700 million

Question 5

How can monoclonal antibodies be made?

Answer 5

Monoclonal antibodies can be made by injecting mice with a antigen which triggers the b lymphocytes from the mice’s spleen. These b lymphocytes can be combine with a tumour cell so that is creates a cell called hybridoma. Single hybridoma cells divide to make a large number of identical cells that all produce the same antibodies. These antibodies are collected and purified.

Question 6

How are monoclonal antibodies so useful?

Answer 6

They can be used on pregnancy tests-these rely on monoclonal antibodies that bind with Human chorionic gonadotropin(HCG). Monoclonal antibodies in the pregnancy test bind to the hormone if it is present, and this used to produce the colour change that signals a positive result.

Question 7

Another reason why monoclonal antibodies are so useful?

Answer 7

Diagnosis of disease- monoclonal antibodies are made to bond to specific antigens found in pathogens, or on blood clots or on cancer cells. This allows doctors to detect problems before they are seriously affecting a patient’s health.

Question 8

What makes a antibody?

Answer 8

White blood cells know as lymphocytes