The Division of Immunology and Genetics is comprised of a number of research groups and laboratories that pursue fundamental research into cellular, molecular and genetic processes of relevance to medicine. Common medical problems investigated by members of the Division include infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease and mental illness, with a major interest being the immune system

Specific research undertaken by the Division includes investigations of viral replication, analyses of the immune response to viral infections, development of HIV and cancer vaccines, molecular and physiological analysis of autoimmunity and its contribution to the pathogenesis of diseases such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis, and research on the processes of inflammation, blood vessel growth and spread of tumours.

Several of the groups with overlapping interests have formed collaborative research programs that focus on specific areas and generate synergies that could not be achieved independently. For example, the Integrative Genetics Program pools the expertise of several groups in order to address fundamental questions regarding the biological and clinical significance of genetic diversity. These studies have implications for the understanding of the genotype/environmental interactions that appear to have a role in many disorders such as common forms of mental illness that are characterized by anxiety and depression, Parkinson's disease and different forms of cancer.

The research carried out within the Division and its associated programs has been enhanced by the establishment of the Medical Genome Centre. The mutant mice generated in the Centre will provide a range of animal models for the detailed study of the many biological processes under investigation within the Division.

The pursuit of long term basic science goals make up most of the Division's work but this is balanced by attempts to translate fundamental discoveries into clinical applications. The latter include the possible application of negatively-charged sugar molecules as novel anti-inflammatory or anti-cancer drugs and naked DNA and recombinant poxviruses as vaccines for prevention of certain infectious diseases or for the treatment of cancer.