Understanding Disease Through Immunology

Develop Therapies that Harness the Immune System in a Controlled and Rational Way

Significant advances in immunology over the last decade have improved our ability to harness the immune system to treat disease and prevent excess inflammatory response without harming healthy tissue. Researchers are undertaking collective studies of whole animals, organs and tissues, cells, and molecular pathways to gain an improved understanding of the mechanisms that characterize the immune response, including the role of the host, the environment and the disease.

Using digital detection technologies that are built for the simultaneous evaluation of DNA single-nucleotide variants, mRNA changes, protein changes, and post-translational modifications, researchers are profiling disease and the immune response in both human clinical samples and mouse models. Their findings provide meaningful insight into a wide range of human diseases, including cancer, auto-immune disease, and infectious disease.

Immunology research aids in the development of new treatments that provide specific destruction of disease cells with no toxicity of normal tissue and with long-term memory that prevents recurrence. Moreover, this newfound knowledge will contribute to our predictions for who will respond to these therapies.

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