The over 80 research groups in the ImmunoSensation Cluster of Excellence, which was set up in 2012, all have one thing in common: they see the immune system as a “sensory organ.” Drawn from the fields of immunology, neuroscience, system biology, bioinformatics, mathematics and clinical research, they have played a big part in identifying and characterizing key innate immune system sensors, decoded new immune activations mechanisms and elevated the concept of immune sensing to international prominence.