4th European Congress of Immunology – ECI 2015 (2015)

The 4th European Congress of Immunology (ECI) will take place in Vienna, Austria, from September 6–9, 2015. The ECI is organized on a triennial basis under the auspices of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), together with the national society hosting the congress. This year's ECI in Vienna follows the very successful editions of the ECI in Paris in 2006, Berlin in 2009 and in Glasgow in 2012. The success of each ECI is due, in part, to the unifying agreement among EFIS member societies not to hold their annual meeting in the year of an ECI. This pan-European attitude, but certainly no less the excellent science presented and discussed, makes ECI a key appointment for the immunology community. During the past 18 months, the scientific program committee has developed a very attractive structure for the meeting, following a consolidated 4-track system comprising the topics of innate immunity, adaptive immunity, diseases of the immune system and immune interventions. This structure perfectly fits with the expectations of both attendees with broad interests in multiple facets of modern immunology research and participants whose focus lies in specific research topics or niches. In this regard, the organizers have placed particular attention on maintaining a fine balance between contributions to basic and applied/translational research. The scientific program committee has compiled a cutting-edge scientific program consisting of 39 symposia, 72 workshops, and, so far, more than 2200 poster presentations. Moreover, four plenary lectures will bring all attendees together once a day during the four-day congress. The 2015 plenary lectures will be given by four highly renowned immunologists: Klaus Rajewsky (B cell development and immunological memory), Fiona Powrie (Intestinal homeostasis and its breakdown), Luke O'Neill (The Inflammasome) and Carl June (Cancer Therapy). ECI 2015 will take place at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV), one of the largest and best-equipped conference venues in Europe. The ACV's excellent underground connection guarantees a journey of no more than 10 minutes from downtown Vienna. Vienna itself is located in the heart of Central Europe and can be reached easily by direct flights from almost every European capital and from overseas. Moreover, Vienna has optimum connections to Central and Eastern Europe and is the base for major international organizations, such as UNO, UNIDO, IAEA and OPEC. According to the Worldwide Quality of Living Survey, Vienna ranks first ahead of Zurich and Auckland 1. Consequently, delegates will feel very comfortable when discovering the numerous attractions of Vienna, including 120 museums, opera houses, concert halls, castles (Fig. 1), coffee houses, traditional inns and small wineries (Heurigen), as well as a contemporary nightlife scene. Vienna offers an unmatched collection of modern and traditional accommodations at affordable rates, along with one of the most modern and efficient public transport systems world-wide. In addition, the organizers have put a special emphasis on low-budget accommodations to stimulate the participation of early career scientists. Beyond its multicultural heritage, Vienna is also a cradle of immunology research. During the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Austrian scientists made important contributions to the emerging field of immunology 2. Rudolf Kraus discovered the precipitation reaction that occurs upon mixing soluble antigen with a specific antiserum 3. Max von Gruber together with Herbert E. Durham first described bacterial agglutination 4, 5 and thereby contributed to its development as diagnostic tool, giving rise to the Gruber-Widal test 6. As a scholar of Max von Gruber, Karl Landsteiner (Fig. 2) studied hemagglutination, by applying sera from different individuals, and thus discovered the ABO blood group system 7. Furthermore, Landsteiner made important observations in the sero-diagnosis of syphilis together with Victor Mucha 8, described the first autoantibody with Julius Donath 9, thus the first autoimmune disease, paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria, and identified the poliovirus as the viral origin of poliomyelitis together with Erwin Popper 10. Ernst Peter Pick modified proteins by attaching small chemical compounds and demonstrated that their injection into animals induced antibodies specific for the chemical (termed ‘hapten’ by Landsteiner) 11. Ernst Löwenstein and Michael Eisler-Terramare made the important observation that bacterial toxins could be inactivated by formaldehyde without losing their antigenicity 12. These inactivated toxins were called toxoids and used for the immunization of animals as well as humans 13. Another outstanding immunologist of this period was the pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet (Fig. 3), who coined the term ‘allergy’ in 1906 14. He also conducted important studies on serum sickness, developed a skin test for tuberculosis – the tuberculin reaction 15– and, together with Bela Schick, a skin test for diphtheria 16. A special exhibition on the occasion of ECI 2015, which will also be open to the lay public, will showcase Vienna's important contributions to early immunology research. Indeed, making these and more recent advances in immunology research accessible to the lay public is certainly one the most efficient ways to promote and present immunology to society. Understanding the immune system and how it combats different challenges has contributed to a better standard of living for all of us. One big success story with immediate application emerged from the discovery of blood groups by Landsteiner 7, along with the definition of compatible blood donor-recipient combinations. This made blood transfusions possible, mechanistically explained Rhesus incompatibility 17, a potentially harmful situation in 1 out of 10 pregnancies, and led to effective preventive treatments. Both blood transfusions and postpartum Rhesus prophylaxis by passive immunization have subsequently saved millions of lives and prevented fetuses from Erythroblastosis fetalis resulting from untreated Rhesus incompatibility. Another important success story was the development of active vaccines against frequent and devastating ‘childhood infections’, such as smallpox, diphtheria, pertussis, and poliomyelitis 18. Due to rigorous vaccination campaigns, the infectious agents have been either completely eradicated (smallpox) or drastically reduced, leading in turn to the near complete disappearance of these dangerous diseases 18. Recently, however, an irresponsible lack of compliance with vaccination programs and recommendations (in part caused also by anti-vaccination movements), has resulted in dangerously low vaccination coverage in some groups within our societies, which, as recent outbreaks teach us, represent serious threats not only for our restricted communities but for the population the world over. This demands intensified information and awareness campaigns to improve individual vaccination coverage as well as ‘herd immunity’, which will avert the rapid spread of these highly contagious diseases and thus save many lives. Along these lines, ECI 2015 has dedicated special symposia to established and novel vaccines, and to vaccine programs for selected groups of individuals within our societies who are in need of special care (e.g., the elderly, to be discussed in our satellite symposium Immunosenescence: Hot Topics and Interventions). Modern immunology, based on molecular biology and recombinant technologies, has led to very exciting novel therapeutics, namely, monoclonal antibody-based biologics 19. They represent neutralizing, blocking or receptor-modulating immunoglobulins or receptor-globulins directed against a whole range of immunomodulatory structures of the immune system, including cytokines and humoral factors, cell surface receptors of healthy and malignant cell types and molecules serving as important checkpoints for immune cell activation/regulation. These innovative drugs, which are currently being licensed for human use in ever growing numbers and specificities 19, are direct descendants from groundbreaking basic immunology research performed in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, auto-inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, as well as different forms of cancer, including leukemias, have become amenable to passive immunotherapy exerted by such biologics, which in many cases dramatically improve the course of disease. Consequently, several ECI 2015 symposia will be dedicated to recently developed treatment modalities with biologics, their combination therapies as well as future perspectives. Undoubtedly, emerging infectious diseases, mostly of viral origin (Ebola, MERS-CoV, avian influenza H7N9) nowadays represent global threats. In fact, the 2014 Zaire Ebola outbreak infected more than 27,000 individuals in several West African countries (with sporadic cases also outside of Africa) and causing a dramatic death toll of more than 11,000 individuals as of today 20. This unexpected and furious outbreak, which was certainly also fueled by fundamental changes in global travel behavior, urgently warrants better immunological control/prevention from the Ebola virus. Notably, candidate vaccines against Ebola disease have been designed recently and are currently being evaluated 21, 22. It is expected that a safe and effective vaccine will be available by the end of 2015. Whether other infectious agents causing hemorrhagic fever (Marburg virus, etc.) that have thus far not caused global problems, will receive similar attention in the near future is a matter of intense discussion. Moreover, many other well-known and well-studied infectious diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and others, which heavily burden millions of individuals world-wide and exact a merciless death toll every year, still await powerful vaccines and/or effective immune-based treatment modalities 23. Special ECI 2015 symposia will be dedicated to infectious diseases and will highlight the most recent developments for their immunological treatment and/or prevention. Today, IgE-associated allergic diseases represent another epidemic, affecting up to 25% of the population in high-income countries 24-26. The challenge here is to improve diagnosis and to further develop effective vaccination strategies, e.g. those based on recombinant allergens, against the major culprits (grasses, house dust mite, tree pollen, etc.) 27. In fact, several symposia with world-leading experts in the field will be devoted to novel approaches for refining the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases. Last but not least, cellular tumor therapy is starting to show its first groundbreaking clinical results. The engineering of autologous lymphocytes (T cells, NK cells) with chimeric antigen-receptors (CARs) and thereby redirecting them toward the desired malignant targets represents a powerful tool to eradicate cancer cells from the diseased organism 28. What is still missing, though, are successful strategies to actively stimulate the endogenous repertoire of adaptive immune cells so that they, upon appropriate instruction, start to recognize and efficiently control malignant cell growth. Whether this will be better accomplished by vaccination with tumor antigens in one form or another, or by unleashing already existing cells from immune system control, e.g., via the application of check-point inhibitors, epitomize the demanding, but exciting, questions that our discipline is investigating 29, 30. Several dedicated symposia and a key-note lecture at ECI 2015 will explore the pertinent issues surrounding modern tumor immunotherapy. EFIS is a non-profit umbrella organization that unites 31 immunological societies from all across Europe, even extending to Israel. Every active member of an EFIS Member Society is automatically considered an EFIS member and can as such take advantage of EFIS benefits. In total, EFIS counts more than 14,000 individual immunologists. Taking in consideration that immunology encompasses a variety of disciplines, EFIS also endeavors to interact with other, related, societies related to Immunology. As such, ECI 2015 has actively solicited and is proud to announce a total of eight EFIS co-organized joint symposia together with the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID), the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), the American Association of Immunologists (AAI), the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS), the World Allergy Organization (WAO),the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) and the Society for Mucosal Immunology (SMI), respectively. Two appointments with EFIS stand out at ECI 2015. The “EFIS Award Lectures” on Monday 7th September will present the recipients of the prestigious Ita Askonas Prize and the ACTERIA Doctoral and Early Career Research Prizes. The winners will give a short presentation about their work. Then, on Wednesday 9th September, the “First EFIS President's Symposium”, convened and chaired by outgoing EFIS President Lorenzo Moretta, will explore “NK Cells and NK Cell-based Therapies of Leukemias”. This is the inaugural event that will become a permanent appointment at future editions of the ECI. In addition to workshops consisting of six selected oral presentations each, special emphasis will be put on poster sessions, representing one main forum for our early career scientists. Guided poster tours by two chairpersons, conducted at time-slots not interfering with workshops, will encourage the active discussion of recent advances in basic and translational research. Moreover, the best poster within each session will compete for 24 poster prizes to be awarded during the closing ceremony. In addition, authors of the best abstracts, which will be scored and selected by a jury of European experts, will have the chance to present their research in dedicated “Bright Sparks Workshops”, and will receive a diploma along with a cash prize during the closing ceremony. Enabling and fostering the participation of students and young scientists at events like ECI 2015 is essential for EFIS’ mission, and, accordingly, EFIS will be awarding more than 240 travel bursaries to European applicants. Similarly, AAI, IUIS and ÖGAI have stepped in with grants of their own (40, 10 and 10, respectively) to applicants from developing countries. Moreover, many national societies have allocated substantial funds for the same purpose to stimulate and promote the participation of their younger members at ECI 2015. For more information about the 4th European Congress of Immunology, please visit our website (http://www.eci-vienna2015.org/). We would appreciate your input to help ensure that ECI 2015 is a great meeting. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to make suggestions. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you to Vienna in September! Vienna waits for you!