Irish mathematician cracks immunity code

AN Irish mathematician has helped crack complex codes about our immune system which may lead to better treatments for Crohn’s, coeliac disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr Ken Duffy, of NUI Maynooth’s Hamilton Institute, made the breakthrough on a team of international scientists aiming to design new vaccines for cripplingillnesses.

The research, published in prestigious US journal Science, turns the existing rules on white blood cell behaviour and the body’s defences on their head.