Signal Transduction in the Immune System-FASEB Summer Conference

Federation Of Amer Soc For Exper Biology, Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks partial funding for a FASEB Summer Conference on "Signal Transduction in the Immune System", to be held June 21-26, 2009 in Snowmass, Colorado. The major goal of this conference is to provide a comprehensive focus on recent advances regarding the signaling mechanisms involved in the response of immune cells in both health and disease. This will be the 5th version of this FASEB conference, with past meetings held in 2000, '03, '05 and '07. This conference has garnered widespread interest in research institutes, academia, and industry because of the outstanding speaker rosters, the cutting edge nature of the work presented and the relevance of many presentations to immunologic diseases. Additionally, since most mainstream immunology meetings do not provide an in-depth focus on signal transduction mechanisms, having this separate FASEB conference for this area of investigation has established the meeting as high profile forum for many investigators. Each version of this FASEB conference has seen increasing attendance, with 2007 being one of the most highly attended FASEB Summer conferences in general. The meeting attracts the leaders in immune signal transduction world-wide as well as new investigators and students. The meeting planned for 2009 will cover a spectrum of topics, with an emphasis on innate immune signaling mechanisms. The 2009 conference will also have a designated session for investigators from leading pharmaceutical groups to provide updates on therapeutic developments in immunologic disease. Though the conference has a backbone of regular attendees and speakers, to ensure that new ideas and areas are addressed, the 2009 conference will feature 17 new speakers (out of a total of 29 invited talks). In addition, each session has space for one or several short talks to be selected from abstracts, with priority given to new investigators or post-docs from groups in which PIs are not presenting. This will ensure a diversity of topics at the meeting. The overall objectives of the meeting are: 1. To provide a critical and intensive overview of the recent advances in immune signaling, emphasizing innate immune signaling;2. To bring together senior scientists and young investigators in a convivial atmosphere of presentation and informal discussion to engender the enthusiasm and investigative skills of students and young investigators;3. To rapidly advance the research on the molecular mechanisms in the immune system by broadly disseminating information and recent breakthroughs. Thus, it is hoped that this conference will build upon the success of past conferences in influencing the direction of immune signaling research.