The immune and inflammatory response plays a central role in the pathophysiology of the vast majority of human diseases. This includes infectious, autoimmune, metabolic, degenerative diseases and cancer. The study of the immune system constitutes the main path to understanding the mechanisms that generate diseases, being an opportunity for important scientific discoveries, including the identification of new targets for the treatment or prevention of various pathologies. This is by its nature an interdisciplinary area of study that requires professionals with complementary training,
activities and perspectives.

Despite having a large number of researchers working on topics related to immunology, Rio de Janeiro did not have a postgraduate program dedicated exclusively to training professionals working in this interface until the creation of the Immunology and Inflammation Program in 2012. In fact, we believe that this is the first interinstitutional stricto sensu postgraduate program in Immunology in Brazil.

The program´s permanent faculty has a track record of producing well-cited articles in high-impact journals and is highly committed to high-quality science and the training of human resources that go beyond purely technical aspects. The three pillars of academic training sought by our program are based on a solid theoretical and practical basis, on the promotion of an environment of dialog and scientific integrity and on the continuous pursuit of excellence.

The Program was approved in 2011 with rating 5 from the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) and, in 2012, we started the course with 30 permanent professors recruited from different institutes of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro U(FRJ) (Microbiology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences and Chemistry) and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ). Currently, the CAPES rating of our Program is 6 and it includes professors from different institutes of UFRJ (Microbiology, Biophysics, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmacy), the Federal University of Fluminense (UFF) and FIOCRUZ.