International conference brings together preeminent leaders and thinkers at the intersection of genomics and immunology
Huntsville, Ala., Feb. 14 — Registration opens today for the HudsonAlpha-Science 2014 Conference on Immunogenomics, to be held Sept. 29–Oct. 1 on the HudsonAlpha biotechnology campus in Huntsville, Ala.
The event offers a dynamic program covering the major themes of this emerging scientific field. Immunogenomics sits at the heart of the movement toward ‘personalized’ medicine and the use of DNA sequencing to improve disease diagnosis and treatment. More information, including registration and sponsorships, can be found at the event site: http://haig.aaas.org.
“The development of new tools and approaches are resulting in exciting advances in Immunogenomics, with implications for understanding fundamentally the immune system, as well as for applications to diagnosis and new therapy,” said Barbara R. Jasny, Ph.D., Science’s Deputy Editor for Commentary. “Science and its publisher, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, are delighted to be partnering with HudsonAlpha and to be a part of this dynamic event featuring high-caliber speakers.”
The conference is a joint endeavor between two organizations dedicated to advancing the scientific community and disseminating scientific knowledge and discovery: the journal Science and HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. The event’s distinguished keynote speakers are Christophe Benoist (Harvard Medical School), Mary Ellen Conley (University of Tennessee College of Medicine), and Mark Davis (Stanford University School of Medicine).
The scientific program committee drew on expertise from around the world to define the event’s program. The committee is chaired by Devin Absher and Jian Han, HudsonAlpha faculty investigators, and Kristen Mueller and Barbara Jasny, senior editors of Science. They are supported by several leading scientists: Lou Bridges (University of Alabama at Birmingham); Xuetao Cao (President, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China); Jean-Laurent Casanova (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Rockefeller University); Alain Fischer (Imagine Institute, Necker Hospital, Paris, France); Dan Littman (New York University); Sara Marsal (University of Barcelona, Spain); and Harlan Robins (University of Washington/Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center).
The science program covers eight topics: genetic and epigenetic regulation of the immune system; genetic regulation of pathogen sensing; the microbiome; the genetics and epigenetics of complex disease; functional genomics; immunodiversity and individual responses to immune challenges; medical genomics, clinical applications, and immunotherapy; and insights into immune system function in monogenic diseases.
“We are thrilled for the HudsonAlpha campus to become again a global crossroads for scientists in this emerging field. The 2014 event is building on the success of our 2012 one and promises to be inspiring and even bigger and better,” said Richard M. Myers, Ph.D., HudsonAlpha’s president and scientific director.
The Immunogenomics 2014 conference promises a fun introduction to Southern cuisine, history, and attractions. The conference program includes a visit to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, home of Space Camp and the Saturn V moon rocket designated a National Historic Landmark. Taking advantage of Huntsville’s vibrant collection of local microbreweries, a ‘Hops on the Helix’ beer festival will precede Wednesday’s closing banquet and keynote address. The HudsonAlpha campus consists of 152 acres nestled within the second largest research park in the United States, Cummings Research Park.
The city of Huntsville, Alabama is renown in the Southeast for its high-tech economy, highly educated workforce, and its pivotal role developing space technologies and systems such as the Apollo Saturn V rocket to the moon, the Space Shuttle’s main engines and booster, the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, and the modern day International Space Station and James Webb Space Telescope optics. Huntsville residents enjoy one of the highest per-capita incomes in the country, in a metropolitan area of approximately 430,000 people. Situated in the Tennessee River valley, Huntsville has the densest concentration of antebellum homes in the South (the Twickenham Historic District) and one of the largest arts enclaves in the Southeast (Lowe Mill), featuring more than 100 working artists and a live performance venue.
For more information, including sponsorship information and a list of confirmed speakers, or to register online, visit haig.aaas.org.
About HudsonAlpha
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a non-profit institute dedicated to innovating in the field of genomic technology and sciences across a spectrum of biological problems. Its mission is three-fold: sparking scientific discoveries that can impact human health and well-being; fostering bio-tech entrepreneurship; and encouraging the creation of a genomics-literate workforce and society. The HudsonAlpha biotechnology campus consists of 152 acres nestled within Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second largest research park. Designed to be a hothouse of biotech economic development, HudsonAlpha’s state-of-the-art facilities co-locate scientific researchers with entrepreneurs and educators. The relationships formed on the HudsonAlpha campus allow serendipity to yield results in medicine and agriculture. Since opening in 2008, HudsonAlpha, under the leadership of Dr. Richard M. Myers, former director of the Stanford Human Genome Center, has built a name for itself in genetics and genomics research and biotech education, and boasts 23 biotech companies on campus. ABOUT AAAS: The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes some 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement, and more.
