This application seeks partial funding for a FASEB Summer Conference on "Signal Transduction in the Immune System", to be held June 19-24, 2011 in Snowmass, Colorado, with future meetings to be held in 2013 and 2015. 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 2011 will be the 6th 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 established the meeting as a high profile forum for many investigators. As a result, this FASEB conference has been one of the most highly attended FASEB Summer conferences in general. The meeting attracts the leaders in immune signal transduction world-wide, as well as new investigators and students. The meeting planned for 2011 includes a joint emphasis on adaptive and innate immune signaling mechanisms, making this program unique among immunology meetings, and in particular, among meetings focusing on signaling. The 2011 conference includes a strong focus on cytoskeletal changes that regulate leukocyte activation and migration, the importance of metabolic pathways during lymphocyte differentiation, and the use of microscopy and mathematical modeling to uncover detailed biochemical mechanisms of leukocyte receptor signaling and kinase regulation. These topics represent the cutting edge of research in immune signaling, and make the proposed program unique relative to other meetings. Though the conference has a backbone of regular attendees and speakers, we will ensure that new ideas and areas are addressed in 2011 by featuring 22 new speakers (out of a total of 33 invited talks). In addition, each session has space for one or several short talks to be selected from abstracts, with priority given to new investigators or post-docs 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 immune signaling, emphasizing leukocyte migration and metabolism and the use of cutting edge technologies to address these issues;2. To bring together senior scientists and young investigators in a convivial atmosphere of presentation and informal discussion to promote the skills of students and young investigators;3. To rapidly advance the research on the molecular mechanisms in the immune system by broadly disseminating information and recent breakthroughs. Thus, we anticipate that this conference will build upon the success of past conferences in influencing the direction of immune signaling research.

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: 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. A large number of human diseases affect molecules in signal transduction pathways and thus, these pathways present potential therapeutic targets for the increasing number of diseases involving the immune system and inflammation. 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 for lively discussions of new ideas and their applicability to the development of novel therapeutics to treat inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, as well as cancer.

R13AI094757

2011-05-01

2012-04-30