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Our immune system defends us against infection by making proteins called antibodies in B cells. To be prepared for attack by a wide range of infectious agents, billions of different antibodies are synthesised. How can billions of different antibodies be produced although we only have around 30 000 genes? The answer is that gene segments encoding for antibodies are rearranged differently in different B cells so that individual B cells can make distinct antibodies. Jane studies how such rearrangements are regulated as well as a process called allelic exclusion that ensures that each B cell only makes one specific kind of antibody.