Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

This meeting attracts scientists studying of a unique type of enzymes that edit the genome of cells and viruses. In 2020 we mark the 20th anniversary of the landmark discovery that the enzyme Activation induced deaminase (AID) underpins antibody-mediated immunity. AID remodels the antibody genes to improve the quality of the antibodies to fight pathogens. This finding illuminated the nature of a class of antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of viruses, paving the way for the rational design of vaccines. We then learned that AID-related enzymes named APOBECs use a similar mutagenic activity to defend cells from viruses. Moreover, collateral damage from the mutagenic activity of AID/APOBECs can cause cancer. Thus, AID hatched several health and immunity research fields, which often advance in parallel. This anniversary prompted us to organize a forum to bring those fields together and exchange the latest advances and identify areas of potential collaboration, seeking to "strengthen and coordinate infection and immunity research", a strategic research priority of the Institute of Infection and Immunity. This will be the 5th of a series of meetings started in 2008, organized by AID/APOBEC scientists and attracting most of the ~50 laboratories working on these enzymes. Donations from the participating institutions, vendors and government agencies, cover the conference and hospitality costs to enable the participation of research groups regardless of their funding situation. The meeting has a workshop format of oral presentations to encourage discussion. Held in Quebec, this meeting will showcase Canadian research to immunologists of the highest caliber, including the 2018 Nobel Laureate in in Medicine or Physiology, and provide a cost-free learning experience for local trainees, thus "supporting research and helping to build research capacity in the areas of infectious disease and the body's immune system", as mandated to the Institute of Infection and Immunity.