Optimmunize: Improving the beneficial effects of vaccines

Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1RQ

General Information

For more information and to register click here

• Early bird deadline: 26 November 2019
• Bursary deadline: 10 December 2019
• Abstract deadline: 17 December 2019
• Registration deadline: 21 January 2020

This conference aims at improving understanding of interactions between vaccines and the immune system, with a focus on the non-specific and sex-differential effects of vaccines.

There is increasing evidence that vaccines, in addition to their disease-specific effects, have important off-target or non-specific effects. A number of major observations with significant implications for child survival have been identified, but the underlying immunological mechanisms remain largely elusive.

The conference will bring together epidemiologists, immunologists and clinicians, as well as research scientists with complementary expertise, and parallel disciplines. We will discuss and explore various aspects of the non-specific effects of vaccines, including their impact on neonates and infants, how generalisable and durable these effects are, the implications for geriatric and veterinary medicine, and why non-specific effects should differ between sexes and across the lifespan. The objective is to have an open and transparent discussion of the science, while focusing on how to further optimize the use of vaccines.

Meeting organisers:

scientificconferences@wellcomegenomecampus.org

Speakers:

Keynote Speaker
Mihai Netea – Radboud University, The Netherlands

Confirmed speakers
Peter Aaby – Bandim Health Project, Guinea-Bissau
Nelly Amenyogbe – University of British Columbia, Canada
Petra Arck – Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Nigel Curtis – University of Melbourne, Australia
Rebecca Chandler – Uppsala Monitoring Center, Sweden
Hazel Dockrell – LSHTM, UK Denise Faustman – Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
Adam Finn – University of Bristol, UK
Katie Flanagan – Monash University, Australia
Sabra Klein – Johns Hopkins University, USA
Darryn Knobel – Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, West Indies
Ofer Levy – Boston Children’s Hospital, USA
Camille Locht – Institut Pasteur, France
Magdalena Plebanski – RMIT, Australia
Marjorie Robert-Guroff – National Cancer Institute, USA
Patrick Wilson – University of Chicago, USA