Genomic approaches continue to provide unprecedented insight into the microbiome, yet host immune interactions with diverse microbiota can be difficult to study. We therefore generated a microbial microarray containing defined antigens isolated from a broad range of microbial flora to examine adaptive and innate immunity. Serological studies with this microarray show that immunoglobulins from multiple mammalian species exhibit unique patterns of reactivity, while exposure of animals to distinct microbes induces specific serological recognition. While adaptive immunity exhibited plasticity toward microbial antigens, immunological tolerance limits reactivity toward self. We discovered that several innate immune galectins exhibit specific recognition of microbes that express self-like antigens, leading to direct killing of a broad range of gram negative and positive microbes. Thus, host protection against microbes appears to represent a balance between adaptive and innate immunity to defend against evolving antigenic determinants while protecting against molecular mimicry.

We report on a novel approach to synthesize hybrid nanostructures of meso porous silicon and conjugated organic polymers that are suitable for solar cell applications. Meso‐porous silicon substrates with relatively large pores (∼100 nm) have been exploited for electrochemical polymerization of organic monomers, which were introduced into the porous silicon matrices and electro‐polymerized to create poly‐vinyl‐carbazole (PVK). We present electrical characteristics of a device having relatively thin films of the hybrid medium, which exhibits a photovoltaic mode of operation (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)