Phagocytosis, a central component of the innate immune response, is the process whereby specialised cell types recognise and engulf foreign extracellular material. While lower organisms use phagocytosis primarily for the acquisition of nutrients, in higher Eucaryota, the receptors that are able to mediate phagocytosis are expressed almost exclusively in Macrophages, Neutrophils, and Monocytes, conferring immunodefense properties to these cells. The process is extraordinarily complex: numerous receptors stimulate particle internalization, the cytoskeletal elements mediating internalization differ by receptor system and the nature of the microbe being internalized, and the outcome has evolved into a complex process underlying a variety of critical biological phenomena. Phagocytosis, as a mechanism of innate immune defense has been appreciated since the late nineteenth century when Eli [...]