Molecular Immunology Research
Immunological Research at the Center of Modern Medicine
Immune responses are essential for protection against microbial infection. On the other hand, all immune responses have the potential for causing damage to the host itself. In recent years, it has become clear that dysregulated immune responses are central to the pathogenesis or expression of a vast spectrum of diseases, including infectious diseases (e.g., HIV / AIDS), autoimmune diseases (e.g., type 1 diabetes), autoinflammatory diseases (e.g., juvenile rheumatoid arthritis), allergic diseases (e.g., asthma), metabolic diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes), vascular diseases (e.g., atherosclerosis), primary immunodeficiency diseases (e.g., chronic granulomatous disease), neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s) and diverse monogenic diseases (e.g., cystic fibrosis). This association, together with the fact that one of the most successful strategies for controlling disease – vaccination – involves harnessing the immune system, and the fact that regulation of immune responses is key to the success of therapeutic approaches ranging from regenerative to transplantation medicine, places immunological research at the center of modern biomedical research.
Such research is the fundamental mission of the Division of Molecular Immunology, a division with broad horizontal links across divisional, organ system, disease process and methodological divides. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying innate immunity and the interface between innate and adaptive immunity – and translational exploitation of novel insights into such mechanisms to devise novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for diseases of children – provides a central theme for much of the research in our division.
