A short video in which Dr Edward Hollox explains his research into beta-defensins, the body's own peptide antibiotics. They are at the 'sharp end' of the defence against infection. A cluster of at least seven of these beta-defensin genes is on human chromosome 8 in a dynamic and complex region near a gap in the human genome sequence.

Different people's beta-defensin genes vary in sequence, in location, in copy number, and probably in orientation as well. Understanding how variation within this region evolved is important as such variation is likely to contribute to differing susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory disease.

Dr Hollox is a Lecturer in Genetics in the Genetics Department of the University of Leicester.