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The habitual, diverse and surmountable obstacles to human immunology research

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The need to translate basic research in the field of human immunology may be much more urgent, and the rewards potentially much greater, than is often acknowledged. Yet a commonly perceived coercion to undertake translational research may be unhelpful. Instead, we propose clear incentives for integrating key skill sets, together with achievable cultural adjustments in research and medicine that span training, recruitment and promotion.

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Figure 1: Integration with integrity.
Figure 2: Incentivized consultation.

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Acknowledgements

A.C.H. cites support from the Wellcome Trust. The authors acknowledge that many of the ideas expressed herein have evolved from discussions at scientific meetings, at the Wellcome Trust strategy committee and at the British Society of Immunology. We trust that we are not guilty of failing to cite particular individuals' key contributions and apologize if this is the case.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. and the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, Adrian C. Hayday and Mark Peakman are at the National Institute of Health Research Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals Foundation Trust, and King's College London, King's College London, School of Medicine at Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK. adrian.hayday@kcl.ac.uk,

    Adrian C Hayday & Mark Peakman

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  1. Adrian C Hayday
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  2. Mark Peakman
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Hayday, A., Peakman, M. The habitual, diverse and surmountable obstacles to human immunology research. Nat Immunol 9, 575–580 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni0608-575

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