Funds are requested from NIH for partial support of the 1lth Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine Society (ICS), to be held at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on October 21-25, 2004. The meeting will be held jointly with the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research (ISICR), and is the 5th joint meeting held by the two societies. The meeting is entitled """"""""Cytokines in Cancer and Immunity,"""""""" and is focused on recent discoveries relating to the role of cytokines in cancer biology, tumor immunology, and immunity. The meeting will: (1) explore mechanisms of carcinogenesis, (2) explore the diseases and disease models relevant to the study of oncogenesis, and (3) highlight how cytokine-based therapies are being used to treat cancer and augment tumor immunity. Organization of the meeting is provided by Drs. Matthew Fenton, Nancy Ruddle, John Hiscott, and Nancy Reich who comprise the Executive Organizing Committee. The confirmed speaker list includes Drs. Tak Mak and Michael Karin as keynote speakers, as well as Drs. Tom Maniatis, Harvey Lodish, Anjana Rao, Shizuo Akira, John O'Shea, Keiko Ozato, Barrett Rollins, and Fran Balkwill as plenary lecturers. The program consists of 21 invited plenary presentations, 21 concurrent symposium presentations, 108 oral workshop presentations, plus three poster sessions. All of the workshop speakers will be selected from submitted abstracts, with abstracts from student and postdoctoral fellow applicants given special consideration for oral presentation. We request partial support to provide travel support for invited speakers, students, and junior scientists (postdoctoral and clinical fellows, junior faculty). Because of the location and program for the meeting, we anticipate attendance of approximately 400-500 people, with at least 150 students/postdoctoral fellows applying to attend. Overall, we will provide a forum for the interaction of diverse groups involved in the study of cytokines, cancer, and immunity. ? ? ?
