ABSTRACT
Biomedical scientists have always dreamed of being able to detect single molecules. In the case of single gene sequences, this dream became a reality with the introduction of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in vitro during the mid-1980s by Kary Mullis [1]. In the case of immunology, fulfillment of this dream has, to our knowledge, not yet been convincingly proven. Adaptation of molecular biology methods to microscopy, allowing reliable in situ detection of specific genes and other substances, has led to the new discipline of molecular morphology, a term first suggested more than a decade ago: At a series of congresses, the first of which was organized in Salzburg, Austria, in 1992, the new term was introduced. A molecular morphology journal was founded soon thereafter, Cell Vision — Journal of Analytical and Molecular Morphology (Eaton Press, Natick, MA) and subsequently fused with Applied Immunohistochemistry, now published as Applied Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology (AIMM; https://www.appliedim-
munohist.com/) (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA). In parallel with the first congresses explicitly dedicated to this new area, a new society was born, today called the “International Society for Analytical and Molecular Morphology” (ISAMM; https://www.isamm.org).
