Your body's immune system is a finely tuned and immensely complicated system to hunt down and destroy bad cells. No wonder it gets wrong sometimes! And when it does, you might end up with a condition like rheumatoid arthritis.

While exactly how it works, is still not known, it is clear that your lifestyle - diet, exercise etc plays a part. A healthy body seems less likely to attack itself.

Honours student Shweta Venkataraman and her supervisor Dr Chloe Goldsmith are investigating the link between diet, the immune system's T-cells and rheumatoid arthritis. In this conversation we learn how they're doing that, and the role of epigenetics.

If you want a look at how a lab study works, plus things about your own diet, you can be part of their research. Email:

Learn more here www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/research/participate-in-a-research-study

Interview by Rod.