Abstract
This book chapter assesses the research on bovine immunology and immunoparasitology conducted over 42 years, from 1973 to 2015, first at ILRAD (1973-1994) and subsequently at ILRI, which was formed by merging ILRAD and the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA) in 1995. This assessment covers the approaches taken, the performance of research teams, the scientific truths uncovered, the cost-effectiveness of the research undertaken and the practical outcomes achieved, notably, the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and other tools to better define the bovine immune system. The chapter makes extensive use of citation data along with the personal reflections of scientists who participated in the research and surveys of opinion leaders in the field. The specific scientific goals and achievements of ILRI and its predecessors were as follows: making a substantive contribution to bovine immunology was realistic and has been substantially achieved, measuring the diversity of strains of Theileria parva, Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma vivax and Trypanosoma congolense was realistic and has been substantially achieved, identifying mechanisms of immunity that kill parasites or limit the growth of the above parasites was realistic and has been substantially achieved, and developing an effective subunit vaccine against any of the parasites was an ambitious goal and so far has not been achieved.