Special Issue "Advances in Molecular Immunology"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Chris O'Callaghan
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
Website: http://www.ccmp.ox.ac.uk/ocallaghan
E-Mail: chris.ocallaghan@ndm.ox.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1865 287794
Fax: +44 1865 287787
Interests: immunity; inflammation; vascular disease; gene regulation; protein structure; function

Dear Colleagues,

Molecular immunology has provided key insights into the function of the immune system and the physical basis for the recognition of foreign or dangerous material for immune destruction. The molecular approach to immunology was exemplified by early work on antibodies and subsequently by the exposition of T cell recognition in a series of elegant and now classic studies. Detailed molecular work provided the basis for our understanding of antigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex molecules and for the discovery of the T cell receptor. Huge efforts and often painstaking work have gone into the identification of ligands for other immune receptors and vice versa. During each phase of immune discovery, pioneers have used state of the art approaches to achieve what have often been paradigm-shifting results.

The use of increasingly sophisticated technologies has continued to generate exciting results and provide new insights into immune function. From understanding individual molecules, we are now starting to understand how multiple molecular interactions are integrated and how different molecules are configured into larger, functional multimolecular complexes, such as inflammasomes.  Immunological activation events are now understood at increasingly high resolution at the cell surface and within the cell.

A range of advances have contributed to this understanding, including pervasive advances in molecular biology, developments in imaging from the cellular to the atomic level and the rapid expansion of high throughput unbiased approaches, most notably in DNA sequencing. In most of these situations, scientists pursuing biological problems have harnessed new technologies to drive discovery forward. In many cases, this engagement with technology has itself lead to further synergistic developments that accelerate biological discovery further. This special edition will showcase the best molecular immunology to provide readers with an understanding of what the molecular approach has delivered already and its potential for discovery in the future.

Prof. Dr. Chris A O'Callaghan
Guest Editor

Submission

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• molecular immunology
• molecular structure
• molecular interactions
• inflammation
• immunity
• immune recognition
• immunoreceptor
• cytokines
• chemokines