Lectures, Parties, and Nobel Prizes: living and researching at the Basel Institute for Immunology By the early seventies of the 20th century, the Basel Institute for Immunology had become one of the largest - and certainly the most prominent - immunology institutes in the world. Its lean structure was highly successful, and the quality of the research and its reputation remained outstandingly high throughout the three decades it existed. This book describes the institute's history from its conception and the laying of the foundation stone in 1969 by the pharmaceutical company Roche to the triumph of three Nobel Prizes (1984 and 1987) for Niels K. Jerne, Georges K�hler and Susumu Tonegawa. Can all this be portrayed to make the layman understand it and the scientist relish it? Indeed, the book succeeds in tuning in to what fascinates students, advanced researchers and scientists, historians, policy makers and philanthropists alike. The narrative reveals many aspects of the institute's life and also describes all its research and achievements. Immunologists at every level, from beginners to old hands, will find something of interest to them in this history, and some readers will even make use of the huge database (documents, pictures and films) linked to the book by hundreds of QR codes.

A History of Modern Immunology: A Path Toward Understanding describes, analyzes, and conceptualizes several seminal events and discoveries in immunology in the last third of the 20th century, the era when most questions about the biology of the immune system were raised and also found their answers. Written by an eyewitness to this history, the book gives insight into personal aspects of the important figures in the discipline, and its data driven emphasis on understanding will benefit both young and experienced scientists. This book provides a concise introduction to topics including immunological specificity, antibody diversity, monoclonal antibodies, major histocompatibility complex, antigen presentation, T cell biology, immunological tolerance, and autoimmune disease. This broad background of the discipline of immunology is a valuable companion for students of immunology, research and clinical immunologists, and research managers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. - Contains the history of major breakthroughs in immunology featured with authenticity and insider details - Gives an insight into personal aspects of the players in the history of immunology - Enables the reader to recognize and select data of heuristic value which elucidate important facets of the immune system - Provides good examples and guidelines for the recognition and selection of what is important for the exploration of the immune system - Gives clear separation of descriptive and interpretive parts, allowing the reader to distinguish between facts and analysis provided by the author

In this innovative, short, new textbook, Rod Langman offers a conceptual framework within which students can understand the evolution of the immune system. Evolutionary selection for resistance to infectious disease is shown to be the driving force that has shaped the immune system into a remarkably effective and efficient system of defense. In the midst of the current information explosion in immunological science, when many students are under the impression that the immune system is almost too complex to understand as a whole, The Immune System can be used alone as a text for an introductory course or used in conjunction with any of the several descriptive texts already on the market.

In the highly competitive world of biomedical science, often the rush to publish and to be recognized as "first" with a new discovery, concept or method, is lost in the hurly-burly of the moment, as "the maddening crowd" moves on to the next "new thing". One of the great things about immunology today is that it has only become mature as a science within the last half-century, and especially within the past 35 years as a consequence of the revolution of molecular immunology, which has taken place only since 1980. Consequently, most of those who have contributed to our new understanding of how the immune system functions are still alive and well, and still contributing. Thus, "A Living History of Immunology" collates many stories from the investigators who actually performed the experiments that have established the frontiers of immunology. Accordingly, this volume combats "revisionist science", by those who want to alter history by telling the stories a different way than actually happened. In this regard, one of the good things about science vs. other disciplines is that we have the written record of what was done, when it was done and by whom. Even so, we do not have the complete story or narrative of how and why experiments were done, and what made the differences that led to success. This volume captures and chronicles some of these stories from the past fifty years in immunology.

The firms and markets of today's complex socio-economic system developed in a spontaneous process termed evolution, in just the same way as the universe, the solar system, the Earth and all that lives upon it. Darwin's theory of evolution clearly demonstrated that evolution involved increasing organization. As we began to explore the molecular basis of life and its evolution, it became equally clear that it depended on the processing and communication of information. This book develops a consistent theory of evolution in its wider sense, examining the information based laws and forces that drive it. Exploring subjects as diverse as economics and the theories of thermodynamics, the author revisits the paradox of the apparent conflict between the laws of thermodynamics and evolution to arrive at a systems theory, tracing a continuous line of evolving information sets that connect the Big-Bang to the firms and markets of our current socio-economic system.

A Place in History: The Biography of John C. Kendrew is the story of the influential 20th century scientific pioneer and winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Those entering the field of transplantation are frequently unaware of the topics historical roots and even of the background on which modern discoveries in tolerance, histocompabatibility antigens, and xenotransplantation are based. A History of Transplantation Immunology is an account, written by one of the founding fathers of the field, of how tissue and organ transplantation has become one of the most successful branches of late 20th century medicine. The book helps place the work of contemporary scientists into its proper context and makes fascinating reading for immunologists in all stages of their career. - Describes landmarks in immunology and places them in historical context - Beautifully written by one of the founding fathers of the field - Portrays the surprising history of events in a colorful and readable manner - Contains biographical sketches of some of the pioneers - Illustrates the development of key ideas in immunology--tolerance, graft rejection, and transplantation - Foreword by Ray Owen