Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune response. The immune response is the defense system of the body carried out by white blood cells against microbial threats such as a virus infection.

In addition to protecting us from invading microbes, immunologists believe the immune response can also be harnessed to protect us from cancer, which is the uncontrolled growth of our own cells.

Immune responses must be carefully regulated because their malfunction can cause an array of disorders, among these allergies and asthma, which occur due to an overly exuberant immune response. An inappropriate immune response can also lead to autoimmune diseases, where the response designed to protect us from foreign invaders is misdirected to attack our own tissues. For example, some forms of diabetes are an autoimmune attack on the pancreas, and multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune attack on our nerve cells.

Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology carry out basic scientific studies on the immune response, as well as research to improve vaccine development, and studies designed to understand and develop cures for autoimmune diseases and allergy and infectious diseases. Since immunology has an effect on every organ system in our body, there is no biomedical discipline that has greater implications for improving human health.