J. Donald Capra, M.D., president of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) in Oklahoma City, is one of four immunologists who have written the medical textbook Immunobiology: The Immune System in Health and Disease, published by Current Biology Publications in London and Garland Publishing in New York. Co-authors include Charles A. Janeway, Jr., Yale University Medical School; Paul Travers, Anthony Nolan Research Institute, London; and Mark Walport, Imperial College School of Medicine, London. The 632-page book will be used in medical schools and in teaching advanced undergraduate and graduate biology students with intended research careers in the field of immunology.
In the preface to the book, the authors write that “now we are beginning to understand the immune system and how it works, future challenges will come more than ever from trying to use immunity in its broadest sense to promote human health world-wide.”
Immunology continues to accelerate its rate of progress, not only in the areas of the basic biology of adaptive immunity, but also in the study of host responses to various infectious agents, the understanding of allergy, and rapid progress towards new vaccines, said Capra.
While writing the book was a joint effort, Capra’s particular expertise is the antibody molecule. These proteins, which are the products of B cells, fight infection and disease by binding to bacterial toxins and ridding them from the body. The study of how antibodies are formed against “virtually a limitless array of different pathogens” has been a lifelong quest for OMRF’s president.
Other OMRF immunologists who assisted Capra in the preparation of particular chapters include Drs. Carol Webb, Linda Thompson, Paul Kincade, Kendra White, Nadine Tuaillon, Dee Dee Stafford, Morris Reichlin and Roger van der Heijden.
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation is a private, non-profit biomedical research facility located in the Oklahoma Health Center, the largest concentration of medical and research expertise in the state of Oklahoma. Fields of research focus include heart disease, cancer, lupus and other autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, leukemia, and children’s diseases. OMRF has more than 350 employees and an annual budget in excess of $25 million, which is generated by competitive, peer reviewed research grants and funding from private and corporate donors, and foundations committed to furthering biomedical research.
