Douglas Fearon facts for kids

Douglas Thomas Fearon (born 16 October 1942) is an American scientist. He studies how our bodies fight off sickness. Since 2003, he has been a professor at the University of Cambridge in England. He also works at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the United States.

Awards and Honours

Professor Fearon has received many important awards for his work. In 1999, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honour for scientists in the United Kingdom. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.

His research has helped us understand how our body's defense systems work together.

Douglas T. Fearon's research has shown how the body's two main defense systems, called innate and acquired immunity, are connected. The innate system helps find germs. This helps the acquired system respond better to those germs. He found out how a part of the innate system, called C3, attaches to germs. He also showed that when C3 attaches, it makes the body's response much stronger. He also studied how certain cells, called B lymphocytes, use a special receptor to make this stronger response happen.

• Innate immunity is like your body's first line of defense. It acts quickly against anything that looks like a threat.
• Acquired immunity is a more specific defense. It learns to recognize and remember specific germs. This way, it can fight them off faster next time.

Professor Fearon's work helps us understand how these two systems cooperate. This knowledge is important for developing new ways to fight diseases.