The immune system is our body’s most powerful weapon to combat pathogens and cancer cells. However, pathogens and tumor cells alike have a repertoire of tricks to evade the immune response. The Divisions and Research Groups of the Tumor Immunology Program investigate the mechanisms determining the function and behavior of innate and adaptive immune cells in health and disease, including the interactions with their microenvironment. Understanding the basic principles underlying immune cell development, activation, regulation, differentiation and death as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying diversity and plasticity of the immune system is a prerequisite for the design of targeted manipulation strategies to protect from cancer, autoimmunity and infection and to foster and devise the development of novel therapeutic approaches. To address their research questions the individual groups develop and use sophisticated experimental model systems and technologies such as genetic barcoding, structural biology and high-throughput single cell analysis platforms.