Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies

Courses

Basic Immunology for Clinicians: Update 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina

This course is presented by in conjunction with the 7th Annual Meeting of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS 2007). Registration for Basic Immunology for Clinicians is separate from that of FOCIS 2007. You may register to attend the course alone, or as part of your FOCIS 2007 Registration. Continental breakfast will be served at 7:00 am, and the scientific program will begin at 8:00 am.

On site registration will be accepted, but due to limited seating it is recommended that your pre-register online or by mail. The course fee is $150; Mastercard and Visa will be accepted on-site.

Course Schedule

Lecture 1: Innate Immunity
This lecture will provide an overview of innate immunity and its relationship to specific or adaptive immunity. The broad mechanisms by which pathogens are recognized as being both foreign and dangerous will be discussed.

Lecture 2: Antigen Presentation
This lecture will provide an overview of the nature of antigens and immune recognition for both cellular and humoral immunity and also describe the major pathways of antigen presentation to both helper and cytotoxic T cells.

Lecture 3: T-Cell Activation and Regulation
This lecture will summarize functional responses of T cells to antigen with focus on the role of signals provided by antigen, costimulators and cytokines, The differences in responses of naīve and effector T cells will be discussed, as well as mechanisms of homeostasis.

Lecture 4: Cell-Mediated Immunity
This lecture will cover T cell mediated immune responses in defense and disease. Topics will include the definitions and properties of T cell mediated immunity, stages of cell mediated immune responses, Th1 and Th2 subsets, cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses, and T cell memory.

Lecture 5: B Cell Activation and Tolerance
This lecture will review the basic principles of the development, activation and regulation of B cells, the role of B cells in autoimmune diseases, and B cells as therapeutic targets.

Lecture 6: Tolerance and Autoimmunity
This lecture will provide an overview of mechanisms of tolerance, including central (Thymic) and peripheral T cell Tolerance. The roles of AIRE, regulatory T cells, costimulation, and IL-2 will be discussed. Autoimmunity will be presented from the point fob view of the mechanisms of tolerance failure and genetic susceptibilities, with specific examples of autoimmune diseases provided.

Faculty

Dr. Abul Abbas, MD
Professor of Pathology and Chair of Department of Pathology, University of California- San Francisco

Dr. Abbas received his MD from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in India, completed training in Pathology at the Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard and joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he rose to become Professor of Pathology and Head of the Immunology Research Division. In 1999, he moved to the University of California- San Francisco as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology. Dr. Abbas has received several teaching awards at Harvard and UCSF, and numerous honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He oversees an NIH funded laboratory in Immunology, with a focus on the control of immune responses, self tolerance and autoimmunity. He has published over 160 peer reviewed papers and invited reviews, and is an author of two widely used textbooks of Immunology, as well as Robbins & Cotran's Pathologic Basis of Disease.

Dr. Hidde Ploegh, PhD
Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Dr. Ploegh is an acclaimed researcher whose work focuses on the immune system. Dr. Ploegh came to the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research from the Harvard Medical School where, as Professor of Pathology, he had been heading the school's immunology program since 1997. Prior to that, Dr. Ploegh was a Professor of Biology at MIT, working primarily in the Center for Cancer Research. Dr. Ploegh's research has contributed in many ways to the understanding of the immune system including the molecular mechanisms by which the body responds to antigens-substances such as toxins, bacteria, or foreign cells from transplants which, when entering the body, trigger the production of antibodies. Recently he's focused on viral protein interference with this process. Dr. Ploegh's 300-plus research papers include the June 24, 2004 cover story for the journal Nature, which described one of the mechanisms by which the immune system eliminates misfolded proteins.