We have gathered an exciting list of speakers (see below) who will explore topics ranging from the function and development of NK and NKT cells, network modeling of cytokine and immunity, the interaction between viruses and host cells, lipids and inflammation, plus atherosclerosis and diabetes and inflammation.  Most excitingly, our confirmed Keynote Speaker, Dr. Philippe Gros, will present his most recent work on the genetic basis of susceptibility to infectious disease.  The 2008 Summer Symposium offers a timely examination of these topics and will be of interest to members of the academic, biomedical and pharmaceutical communities.

Keynote Speaker - Philippe Gros (McGill University)
Complex Genetic Control of Susceptibility to Malaria: Lessons from the Mouse

Session Topics

Modeling Immunity

Réka Albert (Pennsylvania State University)
Modeling Systems-Level Regulation of Immune Responses during a Bordetella Infection

Rob J. de Boer (Utrecht University)
Towards a More Quantitative Immunology

James Faeder (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine)
Rule-Based Modeling of Signal Transduction Networks

Ronald N. Germain (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
A Multiscale Approach to Understanding Adaptive Immunity: From Molecules to Models to Movies

Alexander Hoffmann (University of California, San Diego)
A Temporal Code to Generate Specificity in Inflammatory Signaling

Innate Immune Cells

Avery August (Pennsylvania State University)
Innate Memory T Cells

Cheong-Hee Chang (University of Michigan)
Unique Properties of CD4T Cells Selected by MHC Expressing Thymocytes

David H. Raulet (University of California, Berkeley)
Tumor Surveillance by the Innate Immune System: NKG2D and Its Ligands

Moriya Tsuji (Rockefeller University)
Severing the Gordian Knot: Are Glycolipids the Solution for Effective Vaccines Against Malaria and HIV?

Chyung-Ru Wang (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
The Role of CD1 in T Cell Development and Immunity

Host Pathogen Interactions

Marcia Blackman (Trudeau Institute)
The Latent Gamma-Herpesviruses: Lessons from the Mouse

Michel Desjardins (University of Montreal)

Patricia Fitzgerald-Bocarsly (UMDNJ, New Jersey Medical School)
Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in Host Defense Against Viruses

Chris Norbury (Pennsylvania State University)
Distinct Monocyte Populations are Essential to Prevent Systemic Dissemination of Virus

Richard Randall (University of St. Andrews)
Multifunctional Nature of Interferon Antagonists of Small RNA Viruses

Inflammation and Disease

Steven Abcouwer (Pennsylvania State University)
Targeting Microglial Activation in Diabetic Retinopathy

Linda Curtiss (The Scripps Research Institute)
Toll-like Receptors and Atherosclerosis

Klaus Ley (La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology)
Neutrophil Recruitment to the Lung and Elsewhere

Janet Liversidge (University of Aberdeen)
Inflammatory Monocyte Trafficking In Vivo

Charles Serhan (Harvard University)
A Systems Approach with Inflammatory Exudates Reveals a Novel Genus of Anti-Inflammatory-Pro-Resolving Mediators

The 2008 Summer Symposium will be held in the Life Sciences Building. For more information on symposium sessions and events, please click on the menu item titled "Program Schedule".

If you have questions regarding the symposium program schedule, please send e-mail to: amd9@psu.edu or call (814) 863-5487

Retinal microglia stained with iba-1.  Picture by Chris Norbury and Erica Granger, Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University