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A recent workshop was convened under the auspices of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine the relationship of the innate immune system to autoimmune disorders.
Kavathas, Chair of the AAI Committee on the Status of Women (1998–2001) and Soong, a member of this committee, discuss the reasons for gender discrimination against women and what can be done to address the issue.
Historical insight: It is not uncommon in science that a leading figure in a discipline will declare that all its problems have been solved and that there is little left to do. This has happened several times in immunology, but the field has survived each such declaration and continues its exciting course.
The development of increasingly powerful methods to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses carries the risk of breaking tolerance to self and causing autoimmune pathology. How concerned should we be?
In early July 2001 a small meeting was held in Baltimore on the associations of lymphomas with autoimmune conditions. Topics ranged from the effects of defective apoptosis to questions of antigen-drive lymphoproliferation.
Autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in women than men. A new interest in understanding the biology of this difference as well as funding opportunities have focused attention on research priorities in sex differences.
Differences in multiple sclerosis patient's disease and their responses to standard drugs indicate that today's therapies need to be more individualized. It is proposed that gene expression profiling in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging be used to optimize future treatment approaches.
Historical insight: For years the function of the thymus remained a mystery. Investigations into murine leukemia led, 40 years ago next month, to the first connection of the thymus to immune function. We asked Jacques Miller to put this immunological milestone in perspective.
Where is the small academic lab left in an era of big science and systems biology? Hypothesis-driven science is not dead, and new investigative structures will mate large with small science.
Historical insight: Paul Ehrlich's dictum of horror autotoxicus and the changing orientation of the field inhibited acceptance of the reality of autoimmune disease.
Are appropriate numbers of scientists being trained for research in immunology? Available data suggest that supply is not yet outstripping opportunities. The form of those opportunities, though, should change.
