Bioinformatic strategies for better understanding of immune function.

Novartis Foundation sponsored a Symposium which brought together a group of experimental immunologists, theoretical immunologists, and bioinformaticians to discuss the new field of immunoinformatics. The discussion focused on immunological databases, antigen processing and presentation, immunogenomics, host-pathogen interactions, and mathematical modelling of the immune system. A main conclusion of the meeting is the critical role played by immunoinformatics in current immunology research. In particular, immunoinformatics provides a foundation for the emerging fields of systems immunology and immunogenomics.