About I3T | UCLA Med School

Innovation at UCLA extends far beyond a moment of discovery.

UCLA’s expertise in immunology ranges far and wide. UCLA faculty have developed best-in-class T-cell therapies for fighting and beating cancer and for world-leading transplant programs. They have uncovered and invented new ways to prevent and treat infection to meet the challenge of antibiotic resistance. Their groundbreaking discoveries have unlocked the genetics and cell biology of immunity. Now, they are building mathematical models of human health. Here—now—we are harnessing the power of the immune system to prevent, treat, and cure disease.

What is the I3T?

The Immunology, Inflammation, Infection, and Transplantation Research Theme (I3T) at UCLA is a large community of scientists and clinicians studying how the immune system operates in healthy individuals, and how the immune system becomes dysfunctional in disease. The I3T has 200+ scientists and physicians at UCLA engaged in basic, translational, and clinical research with the goal of harnessing the immune system to treat disease and cure individuals.

Learn more about our different areas of focus within the UCLA I3T Research Theme below:

"It is becoming apparent that the immune system is involved in nearly every disease. Investigators in the I3T Research Theme at UCLA aim to define how the immune system functions in healthy individuals, and how the immune system is altered in disease. Once we fully understand the “rules” of the immune system, then we can harness the immune system therapeutically to cure disease.”

Gay M. Crooks, MD, Director, I3T Research Theme

Did you know?

1 in 6

Did you know that 1-in-6 cancers are caused by a preventable infection? From viruses such as hepatitis, HPV and HIV—to bacterial infections.

90%

The U.S. census has projected a nearly 90% increase in the number of persons aged 65 or more in the next 20 years who will need a transplant?

Autoimmune Diseases

Did you know that as a group, autoimmune diseases are among the leading causes of death in U.S. women less than 65 years old?

They are as common as heart disease and twice as common as cancer. And worse, conventional drugs used to treat autoimmune diseases increase the risks of infection and cancer. Let’s find better and safer ways to prevent and treat autoimmune diseases.

Immune Dysfunction

Did you know that cancers result from immune dysfunction?

Rogue cells that have the potential to become cancerous arise in each of us every day. Cancer only occurs when the immune system fails to detect, clear, and remember these cells. And some cancers even outsmart the immune system to survive, grow and spread. Let’s find new ways to predict immune system failure and restore immune health to prevent and cure cancer.