Keystone Symposia to hold conference in Seattle on immunological mechanisms of vaccination
Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology will convene its conference on "Immunological Mechanisms of Vaccination" in Seattle, Washington from October 27 to November 1, 2010 at Sheraton Seattle Hotel. This is the first conference of Keystone Symposia's 40th meeting season and its first in Seattle. It will be held at the conclusion of the Grand Challenges in Global Health conference, also taking place in Seattle for that program's grant recipients earlier in the week.
Part of the Keystone Symposia Global Health Series, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the meeting will begin with keynote addresses on the evening of October 27, 2010 by Anthony S. Fauci of NIH and Tadataka Yamada of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as a joint reception with the Grand Challenges in Global Health conference attendees.
Additional speakers over the course of the following four days will include Rafi Ahmed of Emory University School of Medicine, Norman Baylor of the US FDA, Robert L. Coffman of Dynavax Technologies, Stefan H.E. Kaufmann of Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Lalita Ramakrishnan of the University of Washington and many others. Concluding remarks on the evening of October 31 will be delivered by Peter C. Doherty of the University of Melbourne, one of two 1996 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for discovering how white blood cells recognize and kill virus-infected cells.
The four-day conference will bring together more than 400 researchers from around the world confronting a range of different diseases that would benefit from vaccine development. Included among the attendees will be 58 researchers and students originating from 27 developing countries who have received Keystone Symposia Global Health Travel Awards to attend the conference.
The goal of the meeting is to bring together, and encourage crosstalk between, vaccinologists, immunologists, virologists and systems biologists. Since these groups do not always interact, such interaction, it is hoped, will encourage the rational design of future vaccines against pandemics such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, and against emerging infections such as swine influenza and dengue. Because of recent advances in immunology, human genetics and systems biology - particularly in our understanding of the role of innate immunity in shaping an adaptive immune response, the time is ripe for progress in this area.
The conference's scientific organizers are Bali Pulendran of Emory University, Rino Rappuoli of Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics and Bruce A. Beutler of The Scripps Research Institute. Bali Pulendran is one of six scientists recently selected by the US Government to share $100 million over the next five years to conduct infectious disease and vaccination research.
Further information about the conference program can be found at keystonesymposia.org/10S1. Early registration, which saves US$100 on later registration fees, ends August 27, 2010. Late-breaking abstracts can still be submitted by e-mailing abstracts@keystonesymposia.org or calling 800-253-0685 (from US and Canada) or 970-262-1230.
Provided by Keystone Symposia on Molecular & Cellular Biology
