This is an application for funds to provide partial support of the 8th International Congress of the International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI), which will take place in Nagoya, Japan, from October 16 to October 19, 2006. The congress will be preceded by a pre-congress program named """"""""Distinguished Review Talks"""""""" by representative leaders in neuroimmunology, and a Special Symposium on """"""""Alzheimer's disease, neurodegeneration and immunity"""""""" (October 15). The application's proponent, C.S. Raine, is past President and Honorary Officer of the ISNI, and a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Congress. The funds requested will be used by the congress organizers in Japan to encourage the attendance of junior and minority investigators in the field of Neuroimmunology. This congress is the major event in the international neuroimmunology calendar and is held every 2 or 3 years. Anticipated attendance is 900 -1,000. Our 2004 ISNI Congress in Venice hosted 1200+ attendees and Edinburgh in 2001, 900+. Due to the increasing recognition of the key role of the immune system in many neurological diseases, Neuroimmunology has become an important and continuously expanding biomedical field, encompassing a wide variety of disciplines ranging from genetics, basic immunology and neurobiology, through neurochemistry, pharmacology, endocrinology, neuropathology and neuroimmunomodulation, to clinical immunology and neurology. The scientific program will focus on basic mechanisms of immune surveillance and repair of the nervous system, nervous system regulation of immune responses, and immunologic mechanisms of neurologic diseases. A heavy emphasis on new therapeutic approaches (gene, cell and immune-based therapies) in neurologic diseases (multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, neuromuscular disorders, psychiatric disease, HIV encephalitis, viral infections, etc.), will permeate the program. Stem cell research in neural repair and mechanisms of neurodegeneration will also feature prominently. This request is for travel funds and will be used to encourage young and minority investigators (pre- and postdoctoral) to attend from around the world, in particular from less developed countries. The selection of candidates will be carried out by a local organizing committee in Japan. Neuroimmunology is of great relevance to most degenerative neurologic conditions because the nervous system is in constant communication with the immune system and in response to almost any type of stress, viz. trauma, aging, infection and inflammation, it produces immunologic molecules that interact with the immune system leading to developmental and regenerative events or to inflammation and degeneration. Neuroimmunology has tremendous relevance to public health in that immune responses can be either blocked or modulated thus making them available for therapy. The enormous strides made, for example, in multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease in recent years has evolved from the application of compounds that act upon the immune system, therapeutic approaches that grew out of neuroimmunologic investigations. ? ? ?
