Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2010;1(5):e00260-10.
doi: 10.1128/mBio.00260-10.

On immunologists and microbiologists: ground zero in the battle for interdisciplinary knowledge

Christine A Biron, Arturo Casadevall
Editorial

On immunologists and microbiologists: ground zero in the battle for interdisciplinary knowledge

Christine A Biron et al. mBio. 2010.

Abstract

The individual disciplines of microbiology and immunology are exploding with new information necessary for understanding host-pathogen relationships, infectious diseases, cancer, and autoimmunity. Because of overlapping scientific interests, immunologists and microbiologists often share common academic affiliations. The coexistence is uneasy. Significant problems arise because the groups have evolved different intellectual traditions. Pressures are intensified by sporadic changes in perceptions of their relative worth. As the mixing of microbiologists and immunologists can be likened to ground zero in the fight for interdisciplinary knowledge, it is useful, at this time of escalating data acquisition and growing appreciation for multidisciplinary research, to examine their histories, the challenges to amalgamation, and the advantages of their association for the advancement of knowledge and the delivery of protection against disease. The exploration supports a recommitment to integration of the disciplines and a proposal to facilitate this by inclusion of expertise bridging the areas.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Representation of the intellectual separation of microbiologists and immunologists (illustration by Samantha E. Canesi, reproduced with permission).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alcami A. 2003. Viral mimicry of cytokines, chemokines and their receptors. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 3:36–50 - PubMed
    1. Garcia-Sastre A., Biron C. A. 2006. Type 1 interferons and the virus-host relationship: a lesson in detente. Science 312:879–882 - PubMed
    1. Hansen T. H., Bouvier M. 2009. MHC class I antigen presentation: learning from viral evasion strategies. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 9:503–513 - PubMed
    1. Medzhitov R., Janeway C., Jr 2000. Innate immune recognition: mechanisms and pathways. Immunol. Rev. 173:89–97 - PubMed
    1. Akira S., Takeda K., Kaisho T. 2001. Toll-like receptors: critical proteins linking innate and acquired immunity. Nat. Immunol. 2:675–680 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms