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MISSION: UC Irvine Institute for Immunology
The UCI Institute for Immunology currently comprises thirty-three faculty members from the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine, whose research and instructional efforts are in immunology. It integrates the immunological research and educational activities of multiple departments, including Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Physiology and Biophysics, Pathology, Medicine, and Neurology. The activities of the UCI Institute for Immunology extend to synergize with allied areas of research including biomedical engineering, public health and physical rehabilitation.
The immune system plays a crucial role not only in fighting infectious pathogens, but also in other disease states, including cancer, as well as systemic and organ-specific autoimmune conditions, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and diabetes. It is one of the best utilized systems for discovering the pathways/mechanisms that govern development in biological systems. The study of immunology has been both a source of important discoveries for many fields of biology, medicine, and public health, and a reservoir for the design/generation of exquisitely specific reagents that are of ever-increasing importance in diagnostics, research and therapeutics. The development of vaccines against common infectious diseases, which began in the nineteenth century, has substantially increased life expectancy, particularly in those regions of the world where vaccines are available. On the other hand, the emergence of human immunodeficiency virus and the resulting failure of the immune system in AIDS threaten to decimate populations, particularly in the developing world. Thus, immunology is a field of continuously expanding importance, scientifically, economically and socially. Research in immunology has led to the discovery of unique molecular processes, such as gene rearrangement and variation, for which many Nobel prizes have been awarded including those to Emil von Behring (recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine), Karl Landsteiner, Gerald Edelman, Cesar Milstein, Sosumu Tonegawa, Niels Jerne, Baruji Benaceraff, Jean Dausset, Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter Doherty.
The major mandate of the Institute for Immunology is to consolidate and further the research and training/instructional efforts in immunology at UCI, thereby promoting the rapid development of world-class research and outstanding graduate and medical training programs in immunology.
Immunologists continue to lead the way in unveiling the nature of host-pathogen interactions and in the research of extra-cellular signaling molecules (cytokines) and intracellular signaling pathways (signal transduction) important in health and disease. Immunology is an exceedingly important science that is currently undergoing a tremendous expansion and will undoubtedly be at the cutting edge of scientific endeavor for the foreseeable future.
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