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Idea

Immune system fight sport

Image credit: Journey to the Microcosmos / Youtube

Darko Savic

Darko Savic Mar 07, 2022

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A video streamed fight sport where two people's immune systems fight it out under a microscope. For example the Pope vs. Mike Tyson or Chuck Norris vs Greta Thunberg.
Why?
Get young people interested in immunology, molecular biology, genetics, etc.
A way to slip in specialized knowledge to a wide audience who would otherwise not be interested in immunology. Explain what's happening during the fight and how people can find out more on their own.
A new "fight sport" that is not morally objectionable.
Find people with amazingly efficient immune systems and study what makes them different.
How it works
Blood from 2 different donors is processed. Filtering out the red blood cells makes the liquid clearer so that the fight can be viewed under a microscope. Process equal amounts of blood, take equal amounts of liquid that contains the immune system cells.
The fight
Place a drop of liquid from each donor so that they touch under a high-quality microscope.
Design software that visually identifies different cell types at a glance. In addition, it remembers and follows all cells throughout the event. When we zoom in on a fight between 2 (or several) cells, the software is able to show relevant information under each cell. We see what type of cell it is and to whom it belongs. 
A commentator explains what each cell is doing and how things are going for it.
A way to promote the new sport
What if the blood donors are:
Mike Tyson vs. Conor McGregor
the Pope vs Greta Thunberg
Pamela Anderson vs Chuck Norris
That's pretty much all it would take to make the sport popular. People worldwide could bet in cryptocurrencies. A portion of the bets goes for humanitarian purposes, a portion goes to fund the sport/platform, and some goes to the blood champion.
Each fight event would be streamed live via Youtube or similar.
This idea was inspired by J. Nikola's challenge.

immunology martial arts youtube show youtube

5

Creative contributions

Immune cells vs pathogens

jnikola

jnikola Mar 09, 2022

You could also add a category where famous (or regular) people fight known pathogens.
How would it work?
You create small microscopic pools with known pathogens. When blood samples are purified and cells counted, you inject a defined number of immune cells into the pool with pathogens. Cameras track the "fight" and record biologically important information. You could even add "superpowers", known drugs, testing compounds, potentiators, inhibitors, or other substances that users requested/paid for. 
By winning, you could collect points, gain levels and get access to more and more add-ons and superpowers (inspired by WoW), while on the other hand, you would directly support scientific research!

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jnikola

jnikola3 years ago

Creating samples ("troops") with immune cells of a certain type
Cells could be sorted by the above-mentioned flow cytometry technique, and "the troops" could be formed. Customers could have their "troops" of specific cells grown, fed, and used for fights. It would make the whole "game" more interesting, while scientists could get funding for more specific research.

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Sensationalize it

Spook Louw

Spook Louw Mar 10, 2022

This could be very cool. A little bit of video editing, like speeding it up and playing with the colours or adding sound effects could make it even more enjoyable to an audience that might be less interested in the science behind it.
Perhaps, after two celebrities have had their immune systems matched, the loser might even change their lifestyle to prepare for a rematch.

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Darko Savic

Darko Savic3 years ago

A rematch after a lifestyle change is a great idea!

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Same number of cells vs the same volume

jnikola

jnikola Mar 09, 2022

I like the idea of having a sport that is highly scientific and educational. It would definitely promote science, more specifically immunology, and other fields that modern pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries lay on. Great idea and an interesting thing to watch.
Decide if you would use the same volume or the same number of cells while setting up the fight under the microscope
The same volume could result in a significantly different number of cells in participants' samples. A person with a hyperactivated immune system could have greater chances of winning since it would have a higher number of more potent cells. Of course, it wouldn't necessarily mean that the sample with more cells would win, which could also be fun to watch!
On the other hand, the same number of cells could be fairer and get biologically more interesting data. The counting and sorting could be done by flow cytometry or by manual counting under the microscope.
Of course, you could have these two as a separate categories so that people can choose if they want fair play or the real world situation of blood fighting a blood! 

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Tag the cells before the match

Shubhankar Kulkarni

Shubhankar Kulkarni Mar 11, 2022

The players' cells could be tagged (or stained) with fluorescent or color tags before the match. After the match, the fluorescene could be measured to see who won.

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Darko Savic

Darko Savic3 years ago

I was thinking about that, but maybe staining them would hurt them just enough to make them weaker during the fight? 

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Shubhankar Kulkarni

Shubhankar Kulkarni3 years ago

Darko Savic Yes, that can happen. An alternative is to incorporate a fluroscence plasmid into the cell. The plasmid expresses the flurescence signal that could be detected using a flurescence miscroscope.

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3-way fights

Darko Savic

Darko Savic May 16, 2022

Pick an intracellular parasite or some microbe that has a chance but doesn't always win against the immune system. Add it into the mix and have a "king of the hill" type battle between the two immune systems and the microbe.

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Add your creative contribution

General comments

Goran Radanovic

Goran Radanovic3 years ago

I only realised now that the popular idea you mentioned in Slack was yours. Well done. Hope you put Brainstorm's link at the bottom of the post, unless it's prohibited.  

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