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We are pleased to announce that Professor Andrew Brooks has accepted our invitation to serve as a co-Editor-in-Chief on the board of Immunogenetics. He will replace Professor Masanori Kasahara, who has stepped down to begin enjoying his retirement. In principle, Andrew will cover, although not exclusively, manuscripts from researchers in Asia and Australia as well as the associated islands.

Our new co-Editor-in-Chief is an authority in the field of immunogenetics. He completed a Ph.D. in immunology at Flinders University in South Australia, where he focused on the presentation of antigen by MHC class II molecules. He then moved to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland (USA), where he studied the recognition of HLA class I molecules by natural killer cells.

During his post-doctoral fellowship, the focus of his work was on the natural killer inhibitory receptor CD94-NKG2, which led to the identification of HLA-E as its ligand. On his return to Australia, he set up a laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne in 1999, and has continued to work on the immune recognition of HLA and HLA-like molecules. He became an Associate Professor in 2009, a Professor in 2013, and Head of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in 2016, as well as Deputy Director of the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

His current research interests are varied, and include exploring the impact of genetic variation in killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR), T-cell receptors, and HLA class I on the activation of natural killer cells and T cells, and how this affects viral infection and transplantation. He also engages in more basic work, analysing innate immunity to viral infections and defining mechanisms of antigen presentation.

Andrew not only has an impressive CV but also an outstanding network within the global community of high-calibre researchers in the field of immunogenetics. We are confident that his participation and input as co-Editor-in-Chief will further reinforce the standards of quality that characterise Immunogenetics, a journal held in high regard by its scientific audience worldwide.

Also on behalf of Martin Flajnik, our co-Editor-in-Chief in the USA, I want to congratulate Andrew on his new appointment. We hope he will find his responsibilities as co-editor to be both enjoyable and gratifying.

Ronald E. Bontrop

Editor-in-Chief