This could be a huge development in medicine

A few weeks ago Porkopolis posted a rant on a NYT's article moaning about the cost of cancer drugs (Wanting our cake and eat it too). Many have suggested that drug profits lead to more drug research.

While researching press releases on major research advancements, Porkopolis came across this recent annoucement: A new understanding of how immune system targets disease:

Scientists have taken a major step toward the goal of altering viruses, bacteria and tumor cells so that they demand attention from immune cells designed to destroy them. According to research published today in the journal Immunity, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have determined for the first time a single biochemical feature of disease-causing molecules (pathogens) that, if changed, would force them to provoke an attack by the human immune system.

The drug therapy implications of this are tremendous. Porkopolis has a call in to the press release contact to determine if any of this research was supported with private funding and will report back here.

Update: Greg Williams was kind enough to return a call. He noted that the funding for this research was NIH (National Institute of Health) and University of Rochester funding.