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Synthetic and Systems Immunology Conference in Ascona, Switzerland

2019; Wiley; Volume: 49; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/eji.201970075

1521-4141

Lucia Csepregi, Daniel Neumeier, Sai T. Reddy,

Immunotherapy and Immune Responses

The Congressi Stefano Franscini (CSF) and ETH Zurich, together with support from EFIS and EJI, hosted the first Synthetic and Systems Immunology Conference in Ascona, Switzerland from 5–8th May 2019. The aim of the conference was to bridge the gap between synthetic and systems immunology which constitute two rising and progressively intertwined areas of applied and translational immunological research. The conference was meant to provide a platform for researchers coming from either of the two areas to gain insights into recent developments in the fields, exchange ideas and foster collaborations among each other, all in the beautiful setting of the conference venue at Monte Verità with panoramic views of the Lago Maggiore. Sai Reddy (ETH Zurich), Bruno Correia (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), Susan Thomas (Georgia Institute of Technology), Elisabetta Traggiai (Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research), Lucia Csepregi and Daniel Neumeier (ETH Zurich) were the scientific organizers of this meeting and invited leading faculty members. 71 researchers with varying scientific backgrounds and levels of experience, representing 25 different research institutions and five industrial corporations mostly based in Europe and North-America, made this conference a truly stimulating experience for all participants (Fig. 1). A scientific program with a total of 29 carefully selected presentations gave a comprehensive overview of the most recent research carried out in the respective fields. Topics covered were very diverse and ranged from precision vaccine design to analyzing immune responses with machine learning to the programming and reprogramming of immune cells for therapeutic applications. A summary of each invited faculty member's presentation is included below. William Schief (The Scripps Research Institute) presented about the current efforts undertaken to combat HIV infection. He presented an elegant approach which enables the induction of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) by activating bnAb precursor B cells and guiding bnAb maturation, thereby offering a promising strategy for vaccine development not only against HIV but also other infectious diseases 1. Melody Swartz (University of Chicago) discussed the critical role of lymphangiogenesis in metastatic melanoma. Swartz showed that while lymphangiogenesis drives metastasis, it is crucial for both T cell activation and recruitment via VEGF-C and therefore beneficial for clinical responses to cancer immunotherapy 2. Ning Jenny Jiang (University of Texas) introduced several high-throughput deep-sequencing based tools in the field of systems immunology which enable a comprehensive understanding of the complex T cell repertoire 3. These advances will enable fundamental insights into basic immunological concepts, which amongst others could pave the way to improve the efficacy of T cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Ronald Germain (National Institutes of Health) who has longstanding experience in the field of cell biology of antigen processing, presentation and the molecular basis of T cell recognition, elaborated on high-throughput in vitro technologies and tissue-based 2D and 3D multiplex imaging techniques in order to give a more complete picture of the 3D tissue architecture and cellular distribution of the adaptive immune system 4. He thereby focused on the fluctuating cell microstates induced by variation of RNA and protein expression and their impact on the operation and function of the immune system. Johanna Olweus (Oslo University Hospital) presented a cancer immunotherapy strategy based on T cell receptors that exploit the concepts of negative selection and alloreactivity. T cells that would normally not react against self-antigen due to negative selection do so, if the self-antigen is presented on a foreign (allogeneic) HLA molecule. Olweus showed how this alloreactivity can be used for the identification of a new repertoire of immunogenic self-antigens thereby offering a promising platform for discovery of therapeutic T cell receptors 5. Kathrin Schumann (Technical University of Munich) discussed the importance of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and their role in maintaining the immune system's homeostasis upon varying pro-inflammatory microenvironments. Schumann further elaborated on functional genomics (pooled CRISPR-screens) and the precise engineering of primary human T cells 6. Alfred Zippelius (University Hospital Basel) introduced clinical aspects of T cell directed cancer immunotherapy. He elaborated on how immune checkpoint inhibitors impact the response and resistance to cancer immunotherapy and presented rational combinatorial approaches to improve the antitumor activity of tumor immunotherapies 7. Mark Rubin (University of Bern) gave a comprehensive overview on landmark studies defining distinct molecular features and their alterations that induce cancer with focus on prostate cancer. He presented current common efforts and advances in the field of cancer immunotherapy to improve diagnosis and treatment options of different cancer types by extensive exome sequencing 8. Davide Angeletti (University of Gothenburg) introduced the concept of immunodominance which describes the observation of unequal immunogenicity between proteins in a complex mixture or between different epitopes on the same antigen. He discussed recent efforts to elucidate B cell immunodominance with crucial implications for the understanding of immune responses to complex antigens as well as for rational vaccine design 9. Out of all presentations, the award for the best presentation of a young investigator which was sponsored by the CSF was awarded to Dr. Govinda Sharma from the Genome Sciences Centre. He presented an innovative platform for the screening of T cell receptor epitopes. In order to spur further scientific discussions with experienced leaders in their scientific field, 25 young investigators, mostly PhD-student and Post-doc participants, presented their research projects during an evening poster-session. A panel of faculty judges visited all the posters and the prize for the best poster was awarded to Tobias Wolf from ETH Zurich for his work on the activation of naïve T cells. The busy scientific program was interspersed with short breaks that allowed continuing discussions of the topics that were presented in the plenum in a more informal setting. A half-day excursion to the pristine Brissago Island which is located in the middle of Lago Maggiore invited the participants to explore the unique subtropical botanical gardens. The excursion as well as lunch and dinner together offered extensive time to exchange knowledge and ideas which could hopefully spur long-lasting networks and fruitful collaborations for the future. We would like to thank the CSF and Dr. Paolo Demaria for the support throughout the entire conference organization process. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all our sponsors for their generous contributions: the CSF, the ​Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), EFIS and EJI, the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (SAMW), the Swiss Society for Allergology and Immunology (SSAI), and our industry sponsors. We also thank the scientific co-organizers for their valuable time and energy commitment and all the participants for making this conference a truly enjoyable community event.