Immunoinformatics and Computational Vaccinology: A Brief Introduction

Abstract

Immunoinformatics has recently emerged as a buoyant and dynamic sub-discipline within the wider field of bioinformatics. Immunoinformatics is the application of bioinformatic methods to the unique problems of immunology and vaccinology. Immunoinformatics, as a principal component of incipient immunomic technologies, is beginning to foment important changes within immunology, as this key discipline tries to free itself from the empirical straight jacket that has characterised its development and attempts to grapple with the post-genomic revolution. Immunoinformatics is, importantly, also beginning to establish itself as a pivotal tool within vaccine discovery.