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For the student, a peek into the world of the future of immunology suggests many exciting areas in which the application of molecular and computational techniques promises significant dividends. To cite just a few examples, let us focus on vaccine development and control of the immune response. In the former, rather than the laborious, empirical search for an attenuated virus or bacterium for use in immunization, it is now possible to use pathogen‐specific protein sequence data and sophisticated computational methods (bioinformatics) to identify candidate immunogenic peptides that can be tested as vaccines. Alternatively, DNA vaccines involving the injection of DNA vectors that encode immunizing proteins may revolutionize vaccination protocols in the not too distant future. The identification of various genes and the proteins or portions thereof (peptides) that they are encoding makes it possible to design vaccines against a wide spectrum of biologically important compounds.

Another area of great promise is the characterization and synthesis of cytokines that enhance and control the activation of various cells associated with the immune response as well as with other functions of the body. Techniques of gene isolation, clonal reproduction, the polymerase chain reaction, and biosynthesis have contributed to rapid progress. Powerful and important modulators have been synthesized by the methods of recombinant DNA technology and are being tested for their therapeutic efficacy in a variety of diseases, including many different cancers. In some cases, cytokine research efforts have already moved from the bench to the bedside with the development of therapeutic agents used to treat patients.

Finally, and probably one of the most exciting areas, is the technology to genetically engineer cells and even whole animals, such as mice, that lack one or more specific traits (gene knockout) or that carry a specific trait (transgenic). These and other immune‐based experimental systems are the subject of the final chapter (Chapter 20). They allow the immunologist to study the effects of such traits on the immune system and on the body as a whole with the aim of understanding the intricate regulation, expression, and function of the immune response, and with the ultimate aim of controlling the trait to the benefit of the individual. Thus our burgeoning understanding of the functioning of the immune system, combined with the recently acquired ability to alter and manipulate its components, carries enormous implications for the future of humankind.