Major new advances in molecular cellular, and organismal biology have provided profound insights into the mechanisms that govern the development of stem cells into the distinct lineages and subsets of mature T lymphocytes. The overall aims and goals of this 'T cell Development meeting' fall into two general categories: The first is to provide up-to-date and exciting research findings on T cell development including: factors involved in directing development of T cells from stem cells; regulation of VDJ recombination at the TCR loci; regulation of CD4 and CD8 in development; elucidation of transcription factors that regulate Th1/Th2 development; and factors that influence development and selection of NK T cells. The second general goal is to gain insight into pivotal problems in T cell development, which include: the developmental relationship of suppression to effector CD4 cells and CD8 cells; the relationship of abnormalities in gene recombination and gene expression to neoplasia and other diseases; and formation of a consensus view on development and TCR expression of CD4, CD8 and NK T cells. Thus, the overarching goal of this meeting is to generate new approaches to understanding the molecular factors that govern T cell development and to clarify and further develop our understanding of the relationship between dysregulated T cell development and disease mechanisms. This meeting will draw together scientists working on diverse aspects of these problems and will facilitate integration of the information from their various experimental approaches into a new synthesis and molecular explanation of T cell development in health and disease. While there are many excellent, small meetings that touch upon aspects of T cell development (e.g. the Gordon Conference, FASEB Conferences and others), these meetings do not have the depth of focus and more often highlight recent advances in the broader field of immunology. In addition, such meetings generally are attended by a limited number of scientists (about 100) of which most are established principle investigators with limited room for junior faculty, post-docs and graduate students. On the other hand, larger meetings (e.g. the annual AAI meeting) are accessible to a large number younger and developing scientists but lack focus and do not promote the degree of scientific interaction available in a typical Keystone Symposium. Thus, the proposed Keystone Symposia on T cell development offers the advantage of allowing a large number of junior scientists and scientists in training to attend and interact, while being focused under a single unifying theme of T cell development.
