A new discovery in the race to cure the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease has given scientists hope of developing a vaccine to combat the spread of the deadly sickness.
Since its discovery in 1996, the disease has wiped out up to 60% of wild devil populations.
The discovery has revealed exactly how the disease spreads from animal to animal – by fooling and then bypassing the devil’s immune system – and it is hoped that this discovery will lead to vaccinations able to prevent healthy devils from catching the cancer by training their immune systems to recognise tiny amounts of cancerous cells.
Read more at University of Cambridge