The telltale signs of inflammation are familiar to us all, such as red, painful swelling around a cut in the skin, fever and body aches during the flu, or coughing and shortness of breath from a chest cold.
Inflammation is the body’s natural, protective response to germs, injuries, and other irritants. However inflammation is not always beneficial. In many cases, it can be harmful, such as attacking the body’s own cells in rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease, illnesses that can last for years or a lifetime. Inflammation is so tightly intertwined with human health that an estimated 50% of all deaths are attributed to inflammation-related diseases, including cancer and heart disease.
Despite the importance of inflammation to human health, scientists and doctors have lacked a tool to accurately monitor the rise and fall of inflammation in the body. Such a technology seemed far