Commentary

Diseases preventable by underused vaccines cause the death of approximately 3 million children per year. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was launched 10 years ago to tackle this appalling situation.

Complexities in sample handling, instrument setup and data analysis are barriers to the effective use of flow cytometry to monitor immunological parameters in clinical trials. The novel use of a central laboratory may help mitigate these issues.

The Nobel Prizes will be announced at the beginning of October. Is there a possibility that immunology might make the list?

The next decade will probably witness the development of new concepts that will incorporate the presently unexplained aspects of innate immunity.

Over the next 10 years, it will be important to shift the focus of mucosal immunology research to make further advances. Examination of the mucosal immune system as a global organ, rather than as a group of individual components, will identify and characterize relationships between mucosal sites.

Acetylcholine and related neurotransmitters appeared with unicellular life forms, millions of years before innate immunity. Tools and insights are now available for understanding how the evolving nervous system influenced the development of immunity.

Epigenetics studies the phenotypes that are born from past experiences and are kept for life.

The imaging of tissues and organs as it is now practiced will seem primitive in the coming decade, yet use of this technology will define the origin of emergent activities and drive an era of system integration.

Severe combined immunodeficiency conditions are devastating disorders of adaptive immunity. Although these diseases were initially treated by transplantation of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells, the past 20 years has shown that these conditions are correctable by gene therapy.

Although the life sciences promise huge benefits, the possibility of doing harm from deliberate misuse of knowledge is an increasingly worrisome issue. Discussion and mitigation of these risks by life scientists must be encouraged.

Jeffrey Ravetch describes how he came to identify the in vivo function of the once mysterious Fc receptors.

Data management has been neglected but should be made an integral activity in all research laboratories. Chaussabel and colleagues discuss how to implement this at the bench.

The Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, recently held an exhibition called “INFECTIOUS: STAY AWAY” that used art to illustrate infection and immunity. Luke O'Neill talks to one of the artists, Gordana Novakovic, about her involvement in this project.

By identifying gene products whose knockdown is associated with phenotypic changes, large-scale RNA-mediated interference screens have demonstrated previously unknown components of biological pathways. This commentary provides general guidelines for using such screens to answer questions of immunological interest.

The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases convened a workshop of malaria investigators and immunologists to foster collaborations and attract more immunologists into malaria research. Discussions highlighted research gaps and underscored the incomplete understanding of basic immune mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of or protection against malaria.

How have women fared at Harvard since the events of four years ago? Here, Judy Lieberman and Laurie Glimcher reflect on progress made and barriers still to be breached.

Is it possible to return from the industrial sector back to academia? Although academic scientists have traditionally perceived this to be akin to winning the Nobel prize, the personal experience of Ross Kedl suggests that the reality is something quite different altogether.

Type 1 diabetes is an immune-mediated disease in which pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells are damaged and destroyed. Animal models have served a prominent function in the development of the present ideas of pathogenesis and approaches to therapy. This commentary addresses the utility and limitations of these models for facilitating the 'translation' of immunology research into clinical applications.

Although immunological research is of only recent origin in India, it is nevertheless rapidly becoming an area of choice for young researchers in this country.

The work of epidemiologists before the isolation of human immunodeficiency virus 25 years ago demonstrates the power of the epidemiological method to gain an understanding of disease pathogenesis.