Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years. Yacold also

partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for

gut health, an investigator-led research program. To learn more about Yachtold, visit yacolt.co.com.j,

that's Y-A-K-U-L-T dot-C-O-J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt.

This is Scientific American 60-second science. I'm Cynthia Graber. Got a minute?

Leishmaniasis is a sometimes fatal disease marked by skin ulcers, fever, and spleen and liver problems.

It currently affects about 12 million people, mostly in the developing world, with about 2 million new infections annually.

It's caused by a parasite, which is spread by sandflies. There is not yet a good

vaccine against Leishmaniasis, but researchers have shown that it may be worthwhile to target not the

parasite, but its fly host. They report good results in non-human primates in the journal Science

Translational Medicine. Vaccines usually trigger our immune systems to rally against a pathogenic agent. If that

agent should actually show up, the immune system can disarm it. But in this case, scientists aimed

at the carrier, the sandfly. When an infected fly bites a victim, it injects parasites and its own

saliva. So the researchers subjected monkeys to repeated bites from uninfected sandflies,

then to bites from infected sandflies.

And the monkeys bitten first by the uninfected flies were partially protected

when confronted with the leishmaniasis parasite.

Seems that exposure to fly saliva alone could elicit an immune response.

The researchers then determined that one particular protein in the sandfly saliva kicked the immune system into action.

A vaccine based on that protein offered partial protection, with seven of ten monkeys that got it developing smaller ulcers and a stronger immune response than their unvaccinated peers when infected with the parasite.

This protein can be generated and purified easily from e-coli, which means that it's

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