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Doctoral students in the limelight at the 2nd Erlanger International Immunology Symposium

2009; Wiley; Volume: 39; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/eji.200990009

1521-4141

Carmen Kroczek, Stefanie Thiele, Rebecca Winkelmann,

Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers

Max Cooper, Klaus Rajewsky, and Kathryn Calame, in addition to 17 other outstanding scientists in the field of B- and T-cell immunology, met in October for 3 days at a scientific tryst in Erlangen. The occasion was the 2nd International Symposium on Regulators of Adaptive Immunity, organized by Erlanger doctoral students working in the field of immunology. This symposium, which took place for the second time in Erlangen, was created 2 years ago with the aim of offering young scientists the possibility of building international contacts at the beginning of their careers and providing a venue for discussing their research results with experts in the field. More than 400 students and scientists from Germany and neighboring countries enrolled in this year's meeting and enjoyed the extensive social program offered at the symposium in addition to the exciting talks from 20 internationally renowned immunologists from the United States, Japan, Great Britain, Portugal, and Germany in the field of adaptive immunity. The 20 speakers at this year's symposium, which included six members of the world-renowned National Academy of Sciences (USA), covered the entire field of humoral and cellular adaptive immunity, with an emphasis on the biology of B and T lymphocytes (Fig. 1). Max Cooper gave an exciting talk about a new class of antibody-like antigen receptors in lower vertebrates. Kathryn Calame (Fig. 2), Klaus Rajewsky, Michael Neuberger and Rudolf Grosschedl discussed the roles of the DNA-modifying activation-induced cytidine deamidase, the small non-coding RNA molecules (so-called microRNA) and other regulators such as transcription factors during the control of the humoral immunity. Flavius Martin, Matthias Wabl, Shigekazu Nagata (Fig. 3), David Nemazee, and Mark Shlomchik presented new perspectives on the elucidation and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Jürgen Wienands described a novel signaling pathway that distinguishes naive from memory B lymphocytes, while Jing Wang, from the laboratory of Fred Alt, offered stimulating insights into new molecular mechanisms for the pathogenesis of leukemia. In addition, Harald von Boehmer, Dan Littman, Thomas Hünig, Art Weiss, John Kappler, Antonio Coutinho (Fig. 4), Georg Bornkamm, and Ulrich Koszinowski presented new findings regarding the function of T lymphocytes during the cellular defense against tumors, viruses and bacteria as well as their involvement in autoimmune diseases. The scientific presentations at this year's symposium proposed many new findings in this challenging branch of immunology and demonstrated the enormous possibilities for translating these results into new treatment concepts that may potentially be implemented in the clinic. Guest speakers and congress organizers. Kathryn Calame (New York, USA) talks to a packed lecture hall. Shigekazu Nagata (Osaka, Japan). Antonio Coutinho (Lisboa, Portugal). The 42 doctoral students who organized this symposium are members of training programs from three specific immunologically oriented research groups, all of which are financed by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and include the Research Training Group (Graduiertenkolleg GK592) ‘Lymphocytes’ (speaker: Hans-Martin Jäck) and the Research Group FOR832 ‘Regulators of Humoral Immunity’ (speakers: Thomas Winkler and Hans-Martin Jäck). Both these groups focus on the differentiation, activation, and deviation of lymphocytes, whereas the third group, Training Group GK1071 (speaker: Bernhard Fleckenstein), studies the interaction between viruses and the immune system. Interestingly, all three programs emphasize the importance of educating the public, as evidenced by the fact that the graduate students participate in the Long Night of Science in Erlangen and organize events for the yearly International Day of Immunology at the market square of Erlangen. These events, among others, provide a unique opportunity for the doctoral students to communicate information from various fields of biomedical sciences such as immunology and infection biology to the public. Furthermore, the doctoral students, who serve as mentors of young pupils from several Erlanger high schools, also organize laboratory courses and seminars to further educate these students. The idea of organizing an international congress with a focus on the adaptive immune system was developed during a field trip to a Munich biotech company in December 2005 and subsequently resulted in the 1st Symposium in September 2006. Due to the success of this first meeting, the following class of graduate students decided to organize the 2nd International Symposium on Regulators of Adaptive Immunity. One year in advance, an organization committee composed of ten students and two professor-level consultants (Prof. Jäck (GK592) and Dr. Biesinger-Zwostra (GK1071)) began organizing and developing the curriculum for this 2nd Symposium. The tasks of the organizing committee included, among others, the development of the program, the generation of a list of invited speakers, the organization of the social program, and the pick-up service and hotel reservations for the guests. In addition, the low registration fee, which emphasizes the student-oriented approach of the symposium, required that the committee procure additional funds. The student committee was able to obtain public funding from the Free State of Bavaria, the German Research Society, and the Multidisciplinary Centre of Erlangen for the Clinical Research (IZKF). Moreover, company contacts established by a former graduate student during the organization of the 1st Symposium were very helpful in collecting generous contributions from a variety of companies. The selection of the speakers was of course a high priority; so a “wish list” was compiled by all the doctoral students according to their primary research interests. From this list, the students invited 30 scientists, 20 of whom accepted within a short period of time. Interestingly, since all of the speakers are working in the field of adaptive immunity, most of these participants knew each other from previous congresses and thus used the symposium to exchange ideas with old friends in addition to building new contacts. As all the invited speakers communicated to the students, the most compelling reason for accepting the invitation was the fact that the symposium was exclusively organized by graduate students and that the venue of the congress provided them with the opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues in their field. However, during the symposium, the students did not operate simply as organizers; rather, they acted like gracious hosts. In order to establish a more personable setting from the beginning, all of the speakers were met by students at the airport or at the railway station and were subsequently accompanied through Erlangen to all of the events. A special session offering the opportunity to establish contacts among students and the Erlanger immunology faculty included a five-course dinner held on the opening night at a first-class restaurant in Erlangen. In order to create a pleasant atmosphere for socializing, significant importance was placed on the seating arrangements, such that two students were located directly next to the guest speaker of their choice (Fig. 5). Klaus Rajewsky (Boston, USA) and Stefanie Thiele (organiser) deep in discussion at the opening night's dinner. After a very stimulating second day, the visiting speakers took part in a poster session organized for the evening by the Erlanger students. Although there was initial skepticism from certain guest speakers regarding the 2 h poster session, which was open only to the guest speakers, the Erlanger immunology faculty, and the graduate students, this session proved to be quite fruitful for everyone. Each guest speaker found the timeframe and the limited number of posters to be an agreeable format and thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating discussions with the graduate students as well as the opportunity to develop personal contacts. In addition, all of the Erlanger graduate students unanimously concluded that this was the best and most productive poster discussion that they ever had. After intensive exchange of ideas, everybody was happy to relax in a more casual atmosphere, for which the official congress prepared a party for all of the symposium's registered participants. Music was mixed together by an Erlanger professor for over 250 guests, who celebrated into the early morning hours on the dance floor. Despite a short night of rest, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the lecture hall on the following morning of the last day of the congress was full, which we believe speaks to the stimulating nature of the presentations. The congress finished with a final dinner with an exciting round of guests and the Erlanger students and faculty. In summary, the 2nd International Symposium on Regulators of Adaptive Immunity was a great success and would have not been possible without the incredible effort from all the graduate students in addition to the support and the experience of the faculty members from the three Erlanger research groups. This symposium was a highlight in the congress year 2008 for the guest speakers, the participants, and all of the organizers. Accordingly, given the motto “after the congress is before the congress”, the planning for the 3rd International GK Symposium in 2010 has already begun, and we expect that we will compile an attractive list of speakers and attract even more international guests to the next Erlanger Immunology Symposium.