New research: origins of satellite thymus glands

Lots of great news out of the department of genetics, and now we add to it an interesting new study:

researchers at the University of Georgia have published findings in Nature Communications that reveal where these extra glands come from and help explain what roles the extra thymuses may play in the complex network of the body's natural defense systems.

"This was a really important question for me as a developmental biologist studying the thymus," said Nancy Manley, professor of genetics in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator for the project. "It would almost be akin to someone discovering that humans have extra heart tissue somewhere else in the body."

Manley and her team of researchers discovered that the small satellite thymuses, known as cervical thymi, have two distinct origins, and while it's not entirely clear if they play a major role in human health, the T-cells these thymi produce could be either helpful or harmful.

It seems to difficult to believe that there is so much about the human body that is still being discovered. But great science is all about building on the framework of new questions and this new work is terrific evidence of both.

Image: The OV1-8 Passive Communication Satallite[sic] (PASCOMSAT) Gridsphere, of course. via Wikimedia Commons.