Grant: Dissemination Events - Priority Announcement: Infection and Immunity

Funding is requested for the symposium, "Immunobiology of Dendritic cells at the intersect between tolerance and immunity" to be presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Immunology (CSI) in Whistler, BC. Understanding of Dendritic cells is relevant for the development of effective vaccine strategies as well as the promotion of protective immune response against cancer cells. This major symposium will be co-chaired by Jen Gommerman, University of Toronto and Ken Harder, University of British Columbia. The symposium will be complemented by a Keynote address on Immunoregulation of the gastrointestinal tract by Professor Fiona Powrie, Oxford University, and by 2 other major symposia, 4 workshops and 2 poster sessions. The CSI annual meeting has a longstanding tradition of bringing together trainees and faculty in the Immunology community with internationally recognized keynote and symposium speakers. Besides the exciting and top quality scientific presentations, the meeting, which will attract about 300 people, is an excellent venue for trainees to present their research findings. It is also a place where students, postdoctoral fellows, new investigators and their established colleagues can network and raise their profile nationally. The meeting is small enough to promote discussion and indeed the Keynote and symposium speakers are requested to attend the entire meeting to allow them to interact with attendees. The meeting takes place entirely in one venue, with meals and coffee breaks held in the same area, to optimize opportunities for networking during the meeting. We encourage trainee participation by offering travel awards for students and fellows, and poster prizes for graduate students. The poster prizes ensure that all graduate students have their posters viewed by Faculty judges. We also involve young investigators in poster judging or as workshop chairs, to increase their profile and expose them to the Canadian Immunology community.