Janeway's Immunobiology


Book Description

The Janeway's Immunobiology CD-ROM, Immunobiology Interactive, is included with each book, and can be purchased separately. It contains animations and videos with voiceover narration, as well as the figures from the text for presentation purposes.




Biology of the Mouse Histocompatibility-2 Complex


Book Description

Somewhere I heard a story of a bridge and a painter. The bridge was enormous and was made all of metal, and the painter's job was to keep it from rusting. He would start at one end and slowly proceed, day by day, month by month, toward the other end, painting the bridge. But no sooner would he finish with the painting than the bridge would begin to rust again. The rust, too, would start at one end and slowly proceed toward the other end, systematically destroying the painter's endeavor. And so the painter would return to where he had started, and begin painting again, slowly proceeding toward the other end of the bridge, always just one step ahead of the rust. And if the story is true, the painter might still be painting that bridge-a modern Sisyphus! During the writing of this book, the story of the painter and his bridge kept coming to mind. The field the book covers has been developing so rapidly that, like the painter, I too had to return to where I had started and fight the rust of obsolescence. But unlike the painter, I had a deadline to meet, which constituted a point of no return. And so, sending off this manuscript, I have no choice but to watch the fruits of my endeavor be overtaken by the rust.







Crossroads between Innate and Adaptive Immunity


Book Description

This compilation presents mini-reviews derived from work presented at the Aegean Conference: "First Crossroads between Innate and Adaptive Immunity," which occurred in October, 2005 at the Hilton Conference Center on the island of Rhodes, Greece. The conference included sessions dedicated to host recognition of and response to pathogens, innate immune networks, antigen presentation, and adaptive immune responses, each headlined by a leading scientist.




The HLA System in Clinical Transplantation


Book Description

With this book we· want to address young graduate students, clini cians involved in transplantation, and technicians in transplantation immunology laboratories. The volume should give a comprehensive but basic, up to date introduction to the structure, function, and clinical importance of the HLA system. We believe that there is a need for such a survey, and think that the present level of our knowledge is an optimal occasion for publication. A significant number of ques tions have now been resolved, and our knowledge has reached a level of sophistication that provides the basis for additional questions and answers. Although the emphasis of this book is on the role of HLA anti gens in clinical transplantation, their involvement in other clinical contexts is also discussed. The main focus is on the human MHC an tigenic system, but MHC systems in other species are described as they contribute to our understanding of the structural and functional characteristics of HLA antigens. Some important issues related to laboratory techniques are also covered. The contributors have a close affiliation to the field of transplan tation immunology. A majority have even been playing important roles in unraveling the HLA system and its functions. We believe this has contributed significantly to the quality and clinical and practical relevance of the book. As editors, we drew up the principal guidelines and took care that the chapters can be read as separate entities, although this invariably results in some overlapping.







Molecular Evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex


Book Description

From molecules to populations and back In biology, the most vigorous organisms often ensue from a union of two disparate, pure lines. In science, too, laws of hybrid vigor seem to operate at the interface between two disciplines, an interface that often proves to be fertile ground for germinating concepts and new outlooks. The fringes of research into the major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) have provided such an interface several times in the past and the encounters have invigorated fields such as transplantation biology, cellular immunology, and immunogenetics. In the last few years, a new interface has been emerging between Mhc and evolutionary genetics, and particularly the branch of evolutionary genetics dealing with molecular evolution. Mhc research relies upon molecular evolutionary genetics, with its grand superstructure of mathematical formulations, to come to grips with the events leading to and maintaining the Mhc polymorphism. Without the armament of rigorous statistical procedures developed by evolutionary geneticists, the intricate relationships among Mhc genes cannot be resolved. It will undoubtedly be a molecular geneticist who is the final arbiter in the dispute concerning the nature of the selection pressure molding the Mhc genes. And it is doubtful whether the true function of Mhc can ever be comprehended without the vantage point afforded by the elucidation of its evolutionary history.




Mouse Genetics


Book Description

Mouse Genetics offers for the first time in a single comprehensive volume a practical guide to mouse breeding and genetics. Nearly all human genes are present in the mouse genome, making it an ideal organism for genetic analyses of both normal and abnormal aspects of human biology. Written as a convenient reference, this book provides a complete description of the laboratory mouse, the tools used in analysis, and procedures for carrying out genetic studies, along with background material and statistical information for use in ongoing data analysis. It thus serves two purposes, first to provide students with an introduction to the mouse as a model system for genetic analysis, and to give practicing scientists a detailed guide for performing breeding studies and interpreting experimental results. All topics are developed completely, with full explanations of critical concepts in genetics and molecular biology. As investigators around the world are rediscovering both the heuristic and practical value of the mouse genome, the demand for a succinct introduction to the subject has never been greater. Mouse Genetics is intended to meet the needs of this wide audience.







MHC Ligands and Peptide Motifs


Book Description

This book is centered on a comprehensive list of MHC peptide motifs and ligands as known to date, together with selected T cell epitopes, arranged in an easy-to-read fashion. This information is put into context by chapters on MHC gene organization, MHC structure, T cell epitope prediction, antigen processing and T cell responses. In addition, the book provides a great deal of complementary information: amino acid sequences of MHC class I alpha1 and alpha2 domains and of class II alpha1 and beta1 domains, the established or predicted composition and specificity of MHC pockets, notes on MHC nomenclature including old assignments and reference to useful internet addresses. A handy reference manual that should be helpful for all those dealing with MHC-associated peptides.




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