Osaka University Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) was launched on October 1st, 2007 as part of the World Premier International (WPI) Research Center Program initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
Immunology has been evolving through the incorporation of molecular and cellular biological techniques. As a result, a number of immune cells and cytokines have been discovered, and signaling pathways and diverse mechanisms have been identified. However, research in immunology to date has been carried out either by isolating immune cells from the body and examining those cells in vitro, or by using in vitro cultured cell lines. We are still almost ignorant about how the immune system actually works in the body or how immune cells behave under pathological conditions in vivo. At present, we are not able to draw the whole picture of immunological responses, and accordingly, we are not able to predict the outcome of immune responses when a certain pathogen invades the body, or even treat immune diseases. In order to address these limitations, we need to develop new research projects designed to clarify immune responses in a spatiotemporal manner in the body.
