Immunology research: challenges and opportunities in a time of budgetary constraint.

There have been enormous advances in the field of immunology over the past 3 decades, and those advances have had a positive effect on many subspecialties of medicine. Opportunities for even more notable advances remain. However, present and projected budget constraints for the National Institutes of Health have created formidable challenges. This commentary addresses the opportunities and challenges for the field of immunology during a period of restricted budgets.