Sep 11: I&I Annual Scientific Meeting 2023
On September 11, the 6th annual scientific meeting of the strategic program Infection & Immunity took place at Villa Jongerius in Utrecht. It was a buzzing face-to-face meeting with about 110 colleagues attending. The symposium was hosted by Theo van den Broek (Group van Wijk, CTI) and Marc Bonten, who kicked off as I&I chair with an update of the strategic program.
This time, the scientific program started with the keynote lecture by dr. Fabian Müller (University of Erlangen, Germany), who delivered an interesting lecture on the experience in his center with the highly positive use of CAR T cells in autoimmune diseases. Müller attended the medical school at the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg. His research focus is on antibody directed therapies, now extended to CAR T cells. Today he is heading the CAR T cell unit at the University Clinic of Erlangen and is leading a Max Eder Research group aiming to develop novel therapeutic approaches.
After the keynote lecture, several I&I clinical scientists presented their research lines:
- Science in action: the physician-scientist - András Spaan
- Innovation in clinical trials: learning while doing - Lennie Derde
- Unmet clinical need in primary immunodeficiency and complex chronic immunologic disease - Helen Leavis
- Clinical phenotyping of chronic pain patients to optimize treatment - Mienke Rijsdijk
After the coffee break, the program continued with a mini-symposium on ‘Hyperinflammation in I&I: from clinic to lab’ in which Marloes Heijstek, Beatrice Winkel and Bas Vastert presented on various conditions associated with hyperinflammation. Subsequently, recipients of the I&I Grant 2022 presented on the progress of their awarded collaborative projects:
- Unravelling the inflammatory response to liberation from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation - Lara Pladet & Stefan Nierkens
- Microbiome altering drugs and response to immunotherapy in cancer: an innovative, multimodal, data linkage approach - Arief Lalmohamed & Henri van Werkhoven
The strategic program I&I also held its pitch competition for the best I&I publication 2023 as first author by our PhD candidates. The award winner received 750 euro free to spend. Three candidates – Annelisa Cornel, Juana Claus and Thomas Kimman - were selected by an I&I reviewing committee to present their publication at the meeting. After live audience voting, the award was won by Annelisa Cornel (CTI and PMC) for her 2022 paper in Journal of Immunotherapy and Cancer entitled “Epigenetic modulation of neuroblastoma enhances T cell and NK cell immunogenicity by inducing a tumor-cell lineage switch.” Due to Annelisa’s absence (with her Rubicon fellowship, she is currently working on new treatments for neuroblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York) the award was accepted by her colleague Joyce Meesters (PhD student at the PMC).
The day was closed by drinks and dinner over a competitive pub quiz! Hope to see you all next year again!