A study by researchers at the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation found that, similar to a spider trapping its prey, the immune system’s neutrophil and macrophage cells can cooperate to capture and “eat” extracellular bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus. The research indicated that blocking a Staph enzyme could represent a promising anti-virulence strategy that would make the pathogens more susceptible to NET-mediated killing.