This application seeks partial funding for a FASEB Science Research Conference (SRC) on Signal Transduction in the Immune System, to be held June 8-13, 2017 in West Palm Beach, Florida. 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. The meeting in 2017 will be the 9th occurrence of this FASEB conference. 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, this dedicated FASEB conference has attracted leaders in immune signal transduction world-wide, as well as new investigators and students. As a result, this FASEB conference has been one of the most highly attended FASEB SRC. The meeting planned for 2017 includes a joint emphasis on adaptive (23 out of 33 speakers) and innate (10 out of 33 speakers) immune signaling mechanisms. The 2017 conference includes a strong focus on innate immunity, including natural killer cells, innate sensing as well as adaptive immunity covering lymphocyte activation and differentiation, imaging of cell activation and differentiation, immune deficiencies, and cytoskeletal changes that regulate leukocyte activation and migration. New sessions that incorporate the themes of mechano-transduction and systems biology of signalling are included. There will also be a session on signalling applied to cancer therapeutics. These topics represent emerging areas at the intersection of immune signaling, biology and translation to human disease. The conference has a backbone of regular attendees and speakers, but we will ensure that new ideas and areas are addressed in 2017 by featuring 20 new speakers (out of 33). In addition, most sessions have space for two short talks (for a total of 16 short talks) to be selected from abstracts, with priority given to new investigators, post-doctoral fellows and students 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 signaling pathways controlling the innate and adaptive immune systems; 2) To bring together senior scientists, young investigators and trainees (including postdoctoral fellows and students) of both genders, in a stimulating and supportive atmosphere involving formal presentations and informal discussions; and, 3) To advance rapidly the research on the molecular mechanisms in the immune system by broadly disseminating information and recent breakthroughs. We anticipate that this conference will build upon the success of past conferences in influencing the direction of immune signaling research.
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 conference will contribute to the rapid advancement of research on the immune system by broadly disseminating information and recent breakthroughs in the field. In addition, this conference will provide a forum to catalyze new ideas and interdisciplinary approaches for the development of novel therapeutics to treat inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, as well as cancer and immunodeficiency.
