New technologies for studying immune regulation in ruminants

There remains a great need for the development of reagents and techniques to study immune regulation in ruminants. These tools are fundamental to our understanding of the mechanisms of immune modulation and underpin the rational design of disease control strategies in livestock. Technological advances in molecular biology have resulted in the development of a new range of techniques to measure and quantify gene expression in normal and disease states. However, the ability to measure protein expression, produce proteins (usually in recombinant form) and to block receptor–ligand interactions remains essential for elucidating the function of the molecules of interest. The aims of this workshop were to look at the current status of reagents for studying ruminant immunology, the prospects for future developments, and also to discuss reagents availability between different groups worldwide.