Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

Watch what the Ebola virus does inside the body in order to spread and survive.

Ebola virus, with an average fatality rate of around 50%, has been responsible for more than 2,000 confirmed deaths during the 2026 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

See the evolution of Ebola vaccine and treatment development.

See how the Ebola virus affects blood circulation in the human body.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the DRC is spurring new Ebola vaccine development for the Bundibugyo species.

Marburg virus, related to Ebola, is also extremely deadly, and has no available vaccine.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the relevant species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

There have been close to 40 Ebola outbreaks since 1976

Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes severe illness, organ damage, and sometimes internal bleeding. It spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids and is most common in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This explainer covers its symptoms, transmission, and treatment options.

An Ebola vaccine was developed during the 2018 west African Ebola outbreak, but the 2026 Ebola outbreak is with a different species of the virus, not the one that the vaccine is approved to treat.

Explore what it's like Inside a patient isolation unit.

Ebola is a filovirus, meaning it resembles a thread under a microscope.

A vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus, researchers hypothesize, could potentially prevent MS

As many as a quarter of MS patients have antibodies in their blood that bind to both a central protein in Epstein-Barr virus and a protein made in the brain and spinal cord that—when attacked—leads to a breakdown of protective nerve fiber insulation. This suggests the immune system's primed to attack the nervous system after mounting a defense against Epstein-Barr.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

What are universal vaccines?

As viruses mutate and develop, vaccines have to adapt, leading to regular recommended injections like flu shots. Researchers are working to develop universal vaccines that aim to protect against multiple virus variants if not entire virus families. These vaccines work by creating broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) that target aspects of viruses that don't typically mutate and are integral to the virus' survival.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

What are 'antibodies'? Read this quick overview

Antibodies are protective proteins produced by your immune system. They attach to antigens (foreign substances) and remove them from your body. Understand this important element of the immune system with this quick overview.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Immunotherapy focuses on boosting the immune system to fight cancer

The immune system detects and destroys abnormal cells, curbing the growth of many cancers. Immunotherapy works to boost the body’s immune system to target and kill cancer cells. There are many ways to accomplish this, including adaptive cell therapy, checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-16.

Using mosquitoes to vaccinate bats could curb the spread of deadly diseases.

A new type of immunotherapy focuses on healthy cells hijacked by tumors

Purdue University scientists are at work on a new cancer treatment that attacks immune system cells that feed and protect cancer cells rather than attacking them. The immunotherapy process promises to become a universal treatment for solid tumors. Thus far, the treatment has been tested and shown to work on human tumor cells in the laboratory and animal models.

Synthetic biology can prevent extinction by creating create disease-resilient plants and animals

Through gene editing and the deployment of artificial cells, scientists can leverage learnings from the genetic sequencing of animals with known resistances to protect endangered species. Gene editing of certain species, such as mosquitoes, can also reduce their ability to spread diseases like malaria between humans.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones have hampered Ebola responses in West Africa.

Bats have evolved to carry viruses without getting sick

Bats—the likely animal reservoir for diseases including Ebola and coronavirus—tolerate viruses without getting sick. The secret lies in evolutionary adaptations allowing bats to become the world’s only flying mammal and to thrive under immense physiological stressors.

How medical robots could cure cancer

Medical robots are on the verge of being able to be injected into the body, where they will be responsible for semi-autonomous behavior, such as detecting cancer cells and distributing medication. This six-minute video dives into the science of these nanorobots, which are smaller than blood cells. Applications of these nanobots could range from disease discovery and condition monitoring to tissue repair and artificial blood delivery.

See how the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine's mRNA instructions teach your own cells to trigger an immune response against the coronavirus's spike protein.

Explore 3D models of some of the most dangerous viruses, allowing us to understand these and other pathogens in new ways.

Watch how viruses like Ebola can spill over from animals to humans—and vice-versa.

Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium being employed to fight dengue

Scientists are fighting dengue spread in a roundabout way: injecting bacteria into Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs, which blocks the dengue virus from replicating in the tissue of mosquitoes. Researchers hope the bacterium will be passed to future generations, inoculating them against dengue. Wolbachia is also being investigated to combat other mosquito-borne diseases.

Gene therapy treats a disease by editing the disease's underlying DNA, replacing it with a functional variant.

How do vaccines work? Watch this brief 101

Watch this under-3-minute video explaining how vaccines use the body's immune system to prepare our bodies against viral and bacterial threats to our health.

Epigenetic editing—altering gene expression by removing or adding chemical groups on DNA—is making significant strides in the lab, even lowering cholesterol in monkey experiments by about 70%. (Free w/email.)

Three Ebola species are responsible for most large outbreaks of the disease.

mRNA vaccines teach the immune system how to respond to a threat, using a molecule called messenger RNA.

How Nobel Prize-winning research unraveled why the immune system doesn't always attack itself

The 2025 Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists who discovered how immune system soldiers are typically stopped from attacking healthy tissue. The work furthered autoimmune understanding and cancer therapies.

Breaking down the different types of vaccine technologies

There are several different types of vaccines. Each type is designed to teach your immune system how to fight off germs—and the serious diseases they cause. This short overview breaks down the differences between the types.

The US military, concerned about potential deployments worldwide, has long funded experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies.

Collaborations between the military, biotech, and academic researchers led to an experimental antibody treatment for the Andes hantavirus strain—the one that more readily passes between humans. As of spring 2026, it had only been tested in animals. The US Army has also tested a potential hantavirus vaccine in people. It published early findings in 2023 that seemed promising, eliciting some immune system response. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Attenuated vaccines introduce a weakened version of the virus into the body

Some vaccines, like those for measles, rely on weakened versions of a virus. These weakened pathogens are introduced into the body, triggering an immune response and helping the immune system learn to protect itself against stronger versions of the virus. (This also explains why some vaccines make you feel under the weather.)

Advanced drugs are closing in on cancer's deadliest mutations

The protein KRAS, mutated in many cancers, was deemed ‘undruggable’. Now scientists are hoping to save lives with a batch of new compounds that target it.

A scientist successfully treated her own breast cancer by injecting the tumor with lab-grown viruses.

As immobile animals, corals and the organisms that live on them have evolved a suite of chemical compounds to prevent disease and ward off predators they cannot outrun.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, does not come from monkeys but it was first identified in laboratory monkeys in 1958.

Teaching immune cells to fight cancer

CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy, which involves strengthening the immune system to attack cancer cells. Patient T cells, which manage immune responses and are responsible for killing pathogen-infected cells, are collected and re-engineered to produce surface-level proteins called chimeric antigen receptors. These CARs, now able to bind to specific proteins on cancer cell surfaces, are multiplied into the millions and infused back into the patient.

The 'Armamentarium' is a set of new gene therapy tools—including viruses that could shuttle therapies into the body—designed to fight brain diseases.

Bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria before multiplying within them—exist on Earth in numbers greater than all other living organisms combined.

Superbugs evolve defenses against medication, then share them with neighbors

One reason antibiotic resistance spreads so quickly is that bacteria have multiple mechanisms allowing them to share genetic material. This short video offers a concise explanation for each of these mechanisms, and animation that helps viewers understand how antimicrobial resistance can quickly spread from one organism to another.

An interactive dive into the immune system

Our bodies are equipped with an incredible system able to fight off invasive pathogens to protect us from illness. The complicated system includes lymph nodes, the spleen, bone marrow, and even the tonsils. But this same system can turn against itself, a condition known as autoimmune disorders. Follow along with this thorough, engaging explainer on the human body's defense system.

HIV sidelines your immune system by destroying T cells, eventually rendering the body unable to fight off even minor illnesses.

Gene therapy can occur inside the body, but it can also be completed outside the body—with scientists treating cells in the lab, and then those corrected cells are transplanted back into the body.

Henrietta Lacks' tumor cells became the first recognized 'immortal' cell line about 75 years ago, but researchers are still investigating the specific mechanisms that enabled the cells to continuously grow and divide in the laboratory.