The eye is a unique organ that is constantly exposed to the environment. In an immune-privileged environment such as the eye, a delicate balance exists between immune responses that limit damage and those responses that can result in irreversible damage. Ocular inflammation and infection are, therefore, potentially blinding events. Efforts to analyze the delicate balance between helpful and harmful immune responses in the eye have involved a variety of animal studies and models which not only analyze specific etiologic agents of infection and the contributions of their products in inflammation and vision loss, but also the underlying host factors responsible for those responses. Other studies have probed the development of novel therapeutics based on endogenous host factors as well as pathogen-specific targets. The goal of these studies is to identify viable targets for the development of therapies that will arrest harmful inflammation and prevent tissue damage, preserving vision.

We invite investigators to submit original research and review articles that will stimulate continuing efforts to understand the pathological events underlying intraocular inflammation and infection and the development of strategies to combat these conditions. We are particularly interested in novel animal models of ocular inflammation and infection, efforts to combat the detrimental effects of ocular inflammation and infection, and the identification of host and organism targets as the basis for novel therapeutics. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Innate immunity and ocular inflammation
• The interactions between host immunity and pathogens or their products
• The identification of pathogen-specific factors responsible for ocular inflammation and tissue damage
• The role of endogenous factors in combating ocular pathogens
• Advances in improving therapies that limit inflammation and vision loss
• Novel animal models developed to study ocular inflammation and infection

Articles published in this special issue will not be subject to the journal's Article Processing Charges.

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/iji/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: