19 Oct 2020
Setting it Straight - Surveillance of self: the major histocompatibility complex
Setting it Straight - Issue #29
Written by Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty
Probing the nature of the psychological self is way beyond my professional expertise, though a good place to start is, no doubt, with what we see in the mirror and how we (or those who speak frankly to us) consider to be our personality and character, or lack thereof. Clearly, there’s plenty of scope for error, bias and subjectivity in such assessments! But, when it comes to the immunological self that we introduced into this discussion several weeks back, that definition happens below the level of consciousness and is, basically, a matter of chemistry, of molecular interactions.