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Training
With the help of private laboratories, SFI assumes an educational role by:
Annual Technological Workshops, where the most advanced methods are taught by specialists to around thirty participants, selected for their motivation.
an Annual Course in Immunology, lasting 4 days, intended to publicize the most recent data in all areas of the discipline and to allow teachers of the discipline to perfect the content of their lessons. A large place is reserved for discussions between participants.

Publications
The Company Directory contains information on international bodies, the list of members grouped by categories. It is the property of the Company and its use is strictly limited to members.
The Information Bulletin, published twice a year, links the members. It contains the minutes of the General Assemblies, the calendar of SFI events and brief scientific reports prepared by French immunologists.
Summaries of conferences and communications presented at SFI meetings are edited and distributed to participants. They are available to interested members who request them.

A website (immunology.fr) gathers all the necessary information. It contains announcements, registration and summary forms for SFI meetings, a bibliography, a calendar of international congresses, a section on job vacancies, announcements of awards, etc. moreover, the SFI regularly publishes new information (“Gazette”).

Grants
The French Society forImmunology allocates training grants to young members of the Society, thesis level, post-doc, to enable them to attend summer courses (FEBS, FASEB, EMBO, NATO), at Symposia limited participation themes (such as ENII, Keystone). For more information: SFI Grants

Immunology is a branch of biology^[1] that covers the study of immune systems^[2] in all organisms.^[3] Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders (such as autoimmune diseases,^[4] hypersensitivities,^[5] immune deficiency,^[6] and transplant rejection^[7]); and the physical, chemical, and physiological characteristics of the components of the immune system in vitro,^[8] in situ, and in vivo.^[9] Immunology has applications in numerous disciplines of medicine, particularly in the fields of organ transplantation, oncology, rheumatology, virology, bacteriology, parasitology, psychiatry, and dermatology.

The term was coined by Russian biologist Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov,^[10] who advanced studies on immunology and received the Nobel Prize for his work in 1908. He pinned small thorns into starfish larvae and noticed unusual cells surrounding the thorns. This was the active response of the body trying to maintain its integrity. It was Mechnikov who first observed the phenomenon of phagocytosis,^[11] in which the body defends itself against a foreign body.

Prior to the designation of immunity,^[12] from the etymological root immunis, which is Latin for “exempt”, early physicians characterized organs that would later be proven as essential components of the immune system. The important lymphoid organs of the immune system are the thymus,^[13] bone marrow, and chief lymphatic tissues such as spleen, tonsils, lymph vessels, lymph nodes, adenoids, and liver. When health conditions worsen to emergency status, portions of immune system organs, including the thymus, spleen, bone marrow, lymph nodes, and other lymphatic tissues, can be surgically excised for examination while patients are still alive.

Many components of the immune system are typically cellular in nature and not associated with any specific organ, but rather are embedded or circulating in various tissues located throughout the body.