Mission
The Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research conducts fundamental research on how the body successfully reacts to vaccines and battles infections and conversely, how infectious pathogens escape immune surveillance.
Modern medicine has made tremendous strides in fighting infectious diseases, but there is much more work to be done. Every year, influenza strikes millions of people, many of them fatally. Whooping cough and measles have made a comeback as the number of people who refuse to vaccinate their children grows. One third of the world’s population is infected with latent tuberculosis. Without treatment, about 5 to 10 percent of infected people will develop TB disease at some time in their lives.
Meanwhile, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is sweeping the globe, taking the lives of hundreds of thousands. La Jolla Institute, one of the leading global organizations dedicated to studying the immune system, is stepping up to provide much needed information and real solutions for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We have launched a multi-lab Coronavirus Task Force that capitalizes on our competitive advantages of unique skill in infectious disease research, state-of-the-art technology and highly collaborative organization to respond to the current crisis and prepare for future emerging diseases. Our other work on HIV, Ebola, Dengue, Zika, and Cytomegalovirus are further laying the groundwork for developing vaccines for these serious infections.
The Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research conducts fundamental research on how the body successfully reacts to vaccines and battles infections and conversely, how infectious pathogens escape immune surveillance.
With the national rollout of COVID-19 vaccines underway there are many questions circulating about the first mRNA COVID-19 vaccines to be approved for use by the public, so we put together a brief, easy-to-understand COVID-19 Vaccines Resource Guide.
The 30-minutes documentary “Life without Disease” by The Visionaries, an award-winning public television series hosted by Sam Waterston, showcases the critical work of La Jolla Institute for Immunology scientists working on the front lines of infectious disease including COVID-19.
“The whole mucosal immune system is so fascinating. It has to operate in an environment of extremes.”
LA JOLLA, CA—To treat Ebola virus infections, researchers are taking a close look at a key piece of the virus:
As California emerges from Omicron, other places are again in lockdown or facing record caseloads after trying and failing to
LA JOLLA, CA—Researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) are designing better therapies for treating Ebola virus and its
Four COVID-19 vaccines prompt the body to make effective, long-lasting T cells against SARS-CoV-2.
New agreement paves the way for better mouse models to study how the human immune system fights SARS-CoV-2