Assuming that the complex phenomena underlying the operation of the immune system may be better understood through the collaborative efforts of theorists and experimentalists viewing the same phenomena in different ways, the Sante Fe Institute and the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory cosponsored a workshop entitled "Theoretical Immunology." The workshop focused on themes spanning the field of immunology, with emphasis on areas where the theorists have made the most progress. This book covers the discussions a that workshop on the topics of immune surveillance, mathematical models of HIV infection, complexities of antigen-antibody systems, immune suppression and tolerance, and idiotypie networks. In each of these areas there is reason to believe that advances can be made either through interactions among experimentalists and theorists or through the critical look experimentalists and theorists will bring to bear upon one another's work.

Assuming that the complex phenomena underlying the operation of the immune system may be better understood through the collaborative efforts of theorists and experimentalists viewing the same phenomen

Assuming that the complex phenomena underlying the operation of the immune system may be better understood through the collaborative efforts of theorists and experimentalists viewing the same phenomena in different ways, the Sante Fe Institute and the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory cosponsored a workshop entitled "Theoretical Immunology". The workshop focused on themes spanning the field of immunology, with emphasis on areas where the theorists have made the most progress. This book covers the discussions a that workshop on the topics of immune surveillance, mathematical models of HIV infection, complexities of antigen-antibody systems, immune suppression and tolerance, and idiotypie networks. In each of these areas there is reason to believe that advances can be made either through interactions among experimentalists and theorists or through the critical look experimentalists and theorists will bring to bear upon one another's work.

Assuming that the complex phenomena underlying the operation of the immune system may be better understood through the collaborative efforts of theorists and experimentalists viewing the same phenomen

In The Foundations of Immunology and their Pertinence to Medicine, Peter Bretscher describes how the few foundational concepts of immunology came about. He traces Jenner’s development of safe vaccination against small pox in the 1700’s, and how it led to the recognition of infectious disease by Koch and Pasteur in the 1880’s, and to the discovery of the Principles of Vaccination. The formulation of the Clonal Selection Theory in the 1950’s still provides a foundation for contemporary analysis of the immune system. Peter describes the main, and sometimes conflicting concepts, proposed in the last 50 years as to how immune responses are regulated. He develops a unique framework, and employs this to justify some tested and some speculative strategies to prevent and treat clinical conditions in five areas of medicine: Infectious Diseases, Cancer, Autoimmunity, Allergies and Transplantation. This book provides a platform for discussing contemporary immunological issues accessible to the non-specialist, medical students and medical practitioners. The platform challenges some of todays most popular paradigms. Foundations is written in a clear and jargon-free style.

Immunology is largely a science of observation and experimentation, and these approaches have lead to great increases in our knowledge of the genes, molecules and cells of the immune system. This book is an up-to-date discussion of the current state of modelling and theoretical work in immunology, of the impact of theory on experiment, and of future directions for theoretical research. Among the topics discussed are the function and evolution of the immune system, computer modelling of the humoral immune response and of idiotypic networks and idiotypic mimicry, T-cell memory, cryptic peptides, new views and models of AIDS and autoimmunity, and the shaping of the immune repertoire by early presented antigens and self immunoglobulin.