Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny: comparative immunology in Germany.

ABSTRACT

The innate immune system is in the spot light of modern immunology. Whenever protists, invertebrates and vertebrates are threatened by pathogens, they rapidly activate highly effective antimicrobial defense reactions. Because this young field develops very dynamically, it is important to ask what we really know about the mechanisms governing the innate immune defense system. This was the topic of a recent meeting entitled 'The Evolution of the Immune System', held at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. Leading scientists in the field of innate immunity presented their latest data in a historical and friendly setting.