The annual meeting of Society for Leukocyte Biology, a leading scientific society addressing immune activation by infection or injury and the organization and control of that response, has a tradition of highlighting the most innovative and timely work on the mechanisms underlying host-pathogen interactions, dysregulation as a result of trauma or injury and leukocyte functions in the pathogenesis of disease. The 2011 meeting """"""""Infection, Inflammation and Immunity"""""""" will continue this tradition by bringing together scientific researchers of all levels in an environment geared to maximize interactions and the exchange of ideas. Objective 1. To provide a forum for approximately 300-350 participants from academic, governmental, and industrial laboratories worldwide to share the latest most significant advances and new discoveries in inflammation and immunity, with an added focus on the impact of the immune system in the nervous system. The program will feature presentations by invited leaders in the field, as well as talks and poster presentations by junior investigators and trainees chosen from among the submitted abstracts from laboratories worldwide. These areas include the molecular pathways involved in inflammation and infection, the accelerating field of neuroinflammation, emerging importance of lipids in activation, signaling, and effector functions, epigenetic regulation of inflammation and Immunity, the paradigm shifting discoveries of monocyte subsets and the growing awareness of the extent of plasticity in the innate immune response afforded by malleable macrophage, the extent of interaction and cross regulation between the innate and adaptive immune response and the influence of the vasculature on the immune system (and vs versa). Objective 2. To present a program that captures significant newly emerging areas in which the immune systems contributes significant influence over proper function, and thus provides potential targets for therapies. A pre-meeting Satellite Symposium on """"""""The Immune System in Psychiatric Disorders"""""""" (separate organization and funding) will provide attendees with insight into this rapidly emerging area, in addition to a complementary meeting plenary session on Neuroinflammation. Objective 3. To provide an opportunity for young investigators and trainees to interact closely with well- established researchers in their fields both formally and informally and to present their research in both poster and podium sessions. Objective 4. To provide an opportunity for women, members of under-represented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to participate in a meeting that showcases their work and facilitates one on one interactions with other scientists in their fields, as well as providing a forum to address obstacles and explore solutions that will optimize their success.
The scientific advances in the complementary and interactive fields of inflammation, innate immunity, infectious disease and inflammatory disorders continues to accelerate, with increased emphasis and the development of technology. The annual conference of the Society for Leukocyte Biology with a guest session sponsored by The Inflammation Research Association and a satellite Symposium provided by the Psychoimmunolgy Research Society in 2011 will provide a much needed opportunity for a highly productive exchange of scientific information on the latest advances and best work in these fields, which have enormous relevance to a broad range of clinical disorders currently prevalent in the US and worldwide populations. Moreover, the conference will strongly promote effective interactions among scientists from different fields, between established and developing junior investigators, and with women and minority scientists with the hope of developing productive collaborations and/or accelerating productivity and success.
