CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR NATURAL IMMUNITY

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Natural killer (NK) cells were initially described because of their capacity to kill cancer cells. Significant recent advances in the molecular basis for their functions have led to an appreciation of the role of NK cells in other innate immune processes such as interaction with other innate immune cells, recognition of pathogen infected cells, and production of cytokines. Advances in fundamental understanding of NK cell biology are now reaching the clinic. Despite recent interest in innate immunity, and more meetings devoted to innate immunity, a meeting focused on NK cells and their biology is still warranted. The meeting of the Society for Natural Immunity (SNI) is the leading and most comprehensive international conference on all aspects of natural killer (NK) cell biology. Building on the success of 11 previous meetings held throughout the USA, Australia and Europe, this event has historically provided numerous opportunities for professional networking, collaboration, discussion and debate around new developments in NK cell biology and natural immunity and how this impacts the critical biological functions including the ability to control infections and malignancies. This is evidenced by already accepted invitations from nearly all major investigators in NK cell biology to the next planned SNI meeting in April, 2010 in Cavtat - Dubrovnik, Croatia. This application for support of this meeting has the following specific objectives: 1. Foster understanding of NK cell biology. 2. Foster understanding of specialized NK cell subsets. 3. Bridge knowledge to other areas of innate immune research. 4. Facilitate translational research on NK cell functions for the rational design of novel NK-cell based therapies of cancer and infectious diseases. 5. Provide an exciting environment for trainees and junior faculty. By providing slots in the plenary sessions for oral presentations, and poster sessions, we will provide extensive opportunities for junior investigators, postdoctoral fellows, and students to present their work formally and informally. This should foster their career development. Finally, the major expenditure of this grant, if funded, will be travel support for junior scientists to attend this meeting which has been historically the venue for initial presentation of recent seminal findings in NK cell biology.