: Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination, organized by Adrian VS. Hill, Dan H. Barouche, John T. Harty and Tania H. Watts. The meeting will be held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from December 13 - 18, 2012. Vaccines are remarkably successful in reducing morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases in both developed and developing countries. However, globally, mortality from infectious disease still exceeds 10 million deaths annually reflecting a need for new, more effective and more deployable vaccination approaches. As many of the relatively easy vaccines have already been made, vaccinology is now tackling more difficult diseases, often caused by complex and genetically variable pathogens. A better understanding of the immunological mechanisms underpinning existing and novel vaccines is therefore required. Fortunately, research efforts to uncover new molecular and cellular techniques offer exceptional opportunities for improved vaccine design. A better understanding of the immunology of vaccination will be of value in evidence-based design of new vaccines against major global causes of mortality such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, and against emerging infections such as swine influenza and dengue. Advances in immunology, genomics, and systems biology are beginning to offer a deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of host immunity, and the pivotal role played by the innate immune system in shaping the adaptive immune response. This is providing new opportunities to identify new signatures of vaccine immunogenicity and protective efficacy, which should facilitate vaccine development and guide improved vaccine design. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination will bring together an interdisciplinary group of scientists in vaccinology, immunology and pathogen biology, to address recent advances in these fields and their potential for accelerating vaccine design and development. The program of this meeting benefits considerably from a partnership with the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), whereby the Keystone Symposia meeting will be held juxtaposed with the annual business meeting of the BMGF Grand Challenges in Global Health awardees. Many of the Grand Challenges awardees will be speakers at the Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination meeting and we anticipate that many of the others will attend as well. The quality and impact of the meeting will be significantly enhanced through extensive participation by scientists from developing affected nations. Public Health Relevance: Vaccines currently save about 2.5 million lives each year, and major advances in pathogen biology and immunology provide unprecedented opportunities for rapid progress in vaccine design and development. The 2013 Keystone Symposia meeting on Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination focuses on the key immunological drivers in vaccine design over the last decades. Gathering basic and translational researchers from around the world, we anticipate that this meeting will provide a truly global perspective on progress in vaccine design and development and lead to an important refocusing of research and development efforts on the pathways most likely to lead to rapid vaccine development.
Vaccines currently save about 2.5 million lives each year, and major advances in pathogen biology and immunology provide unprecedented opportunities for rapid progress in vaccine design and development. The 2013 Keystone Symposia meeting on Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination focuses on the key immunological drivers in vaccine design over the last decades. Gathering basic and translational researchers from around the world, we anticipate that this meeting will provide a truly global perspective on progress in vaccine design and development and lead to an important refocusing of research and development efforts on the pathways most likely to lead to rapid vaccine development.
