Lung Immune Responses and Inflammation in Health and Disease Conference

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT This application requests partial funding for the 2016 Pittsburgh-Munich Lung Conference entitled ?Lung Immune Responses and Inflammation in Health and Disease.? The conference will be held on October 5-7, 2016, at the University Club in Pittsburgh, PA. Expected attendance is 300-400 and will include basic scientists, physician-scientists, clinicians, and other health professionals. Speakers and attendees will be junior and senior investigators as well as trainees specializing in a wide range of scientific disciplines (pulmonary medicine, immunology, cell biology, computational biology, translational and clinical science). This Conference represents the 15th annual Pittsburgh Lung meeting with a unique blend of cutting-edge science that will showcase the impact of the immune system on lung health and disease. The specific topics to be covered in this conference include: 1) Immune tolerance in maintenance of lung health and loss in disease, 2) Immune response and inflammation in defense against respiratory pathogens, 3) Immune response and inflammation in promotion of lung diseases, 4) Cutting-edge technologies to probe immune cells and relevance in lung disease, and 5) Targeting the immune system to treat lung diseases. Speakers will include MDs and PhDs from academics, industry, and governmental organizations including the National Institutes of Health. No scientific conference of this kind has been organized in recent years. The conference will also allow junior investigators and trainees to learn and contribute in order to ensure the future vitality of the field. Finally, our conference program includes a diverse set of participating scientists including women and those from under- represented minority population. The organizers believe that a Conference of this kind is especially timely because many of these discoveries are now showing promise in translation to wide-spread clinical care in the near future.