Comment

Fred Ramsdell and Alexander Rudensky revisit the discovery of the Foxp3 gene and its foundational role in the differentiation and function of regulatory T cells.

Immunologists used to avoid metabolism, but that is no longer possible. Now that we must talk about it, how can we do so in a way that enhances and clarifies our understanding of the role metabolism plays in the immune response?

Despite new vaccines, therapeutics, and the extensive lessons learned from the West African Ebola outbreak, the DRC’s 2018–2020 outbreak has taken nearly 20 months to bring under control. This Comment explores some of the factors that have made this outbreak so complex.

Climate change is already affecting vector-borne disease transmission and spread, and its impacts are likely to worsen. In the face of ongoing climate change, we must intensify efforts to prevent and control vector-borne diseases.

Climate change can trigger a sequence of events of significant magnitude with consequences for waterborne diseases. Heavy rainfall, flooding and hot weather are associated with waterborne diseases, but early warning systems could intercept these cascading risks.

Ann Ager is chair of its Forum and a trustee for the British Society for Immunology, and council member of the International Union of Immunological Societies. She discusses her role as an advocate for immunology to governments and other policy makers.

Progress in understanding the rare disease Langerhans cell histiocytosis has stimulated immersive meetings occurring annually over a 30-year period that bring together clinicians, scientists and patients in a unique collaboration.

Therapeutic innovations of potentially great clinical impact should embrace the overarching values of research accountability, data transparency and validation through the scientific peer-review process.

With record levels of vaccine hesitancy and one of the most drastic reinforcements of vaccine mandates in recent years, there is much to learn from the French experience.

The immunology research community lacks diversity, particularly at the top. Here I discuss diversity, inclusion and equity and their benefit to science. I suggest steps we can take to achieve a more diverse and inclusive community.

On 18 December 2018, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases convened a workshop entitled ‘Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Development and Use of Humanized Immune System Mouse Models’.

Mice are generally the ‘go-to’ organism for modeling of the human immune system, but this often leads to inaccurate interpretations. Ernst and Carvunis argue in this Comment that taking into account the evolutionary and environmental context can generate better models of disease.

High-throughput sequencing of B and T cell receptors is routinely being applied in studies of adaptive immunity. The Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community was formed in 2015 to address issues in AIRR sequencing studies, including the development of reporting standards for the sharing of data sets.

Netea and colleagues provide a general guide to the cellular and humoral contributors to inflammation as well as the pathways that characterize inflammation in specific organs and tissues.

Omissions of qualified women scientists from major meeting programs continue to occur despite a surge in articles indicating persistent gender-discriminatory practices in hiring and promotion, and calls for gender balance in conference organizing committees.

Mass cytometry is shaping up to be a transformative technology for the description of immunological cell populations. In their Commentary, however, Newell and Cheng report that with great power comes great complexity and concomitant challenges for data analysis and visualization.

Targeting innate lymphoid cells, the innate counterparts of T cells, might help direct an appropriate immune response during preventive and therapeutic strategies aimed at pathogens and inflammatory pathologies

Two approaches have been widely applied in ethics education in the biomedical sciences: field-specific compliance and professional decision processes. Both approaches offer unique benefits to trainees, but future courses that integrate these two approaches might prove particularly valuable.