genes involved in causing immune diseases, cancer, and other diseases using RNA interference (RNAi) technology. That same year, the La Jolla Institute and Immunology became the fifth collaborating organization to join the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine. In 2013 La Jolla Institute extended its partnership with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Kyowa Hakko Kirin. The six-year agreement continues a research alliance that began in 1988. In 2015 the La Jolla Institute for Immunology announced its affiliation with the UC San Diego Health System. In 2018, the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology changed its name to La Jolla Institute for Immunology to reflect its current focus. In 2020, scientists at the institute formed a Coronavirus Task Force in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the institute became the home of the Coronavirus Immunotherapy Consortium (CoVIC), a research collaboration to test antibodies against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, led by structural virologist Erica Ollmann Saphire. Scientific activities Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology study the fundamental workings of the immune system. This includes studying the cells driving allergies and autoimmune diseases, as well as the cells that aim to fight cancers and infectious diseases. The institute is made up of three centers: the Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation, the Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research. Scientists at LJI also lead research into genomic sequencing of immune cells and high-resolution imaging of virus/antibody interactions through cryo-electron microscopy. The institute is home to the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) and the DICE (Database of Immune Cell Expression, Expression of quantitative trait loci and Epigenomics). Scientists at LJI, in collaboration with researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute, were the first to publish an analysis of potential SARS-CoV-2 epitopes vulnerable to the human immune system. Since then, COVID-19 research at LJI has shed light on how both CD+8 and CD+4 T cells respond to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These findings can inform vaccine efforts. Scientists at the institute have analyzed mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Additional COVID-19 projects at the institute include research to understand how the virus affects white blood cells called monocytes and research into Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Researchers at LJI have established several international research partnerships, including research collaborations in Nepal to study flavivirus infection and collaborations in Sierra Leone to study hemorrhagic fever viruses. References External links Home Page