First
International
BioDefense-2004-Boston Meeting
“Infection to Inflammation and Immunity”
Four Points Sheraton, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
November 8-9, 2004
|
Target Audience: |
200 |
| Total
Speaker Presentations: |
20 |
| Total
Poster Presentations: |
20 |
| Total
Exhibit Booths: |
20 |
AGENDA/SPEAKERS
Click Here For
PDF of the Agenda
Scientific
Advisory Committee:
? Krishnarao Appasani, PhD., MBA. Founder, GeneExpression
Systems, Inc.
? Charles N. Serhan, Ph.D. Simon Gelman Professor of Anaesthesia,
Harvard Medical
? Brenda A. Wilson, PhD. Assoc. Professor of Microbiology,
University of Illinois, Urbana-
? Christopher M. Sassetti, PhD. Asst. Professor, UMass Medical
School, Worcester, MA
? Michael Basso, MPH. Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta,
GA
Monday, November 8, 2004
7:30 AM: Registration Open
8:00 – 9:00 AM: Continental breakfast:
Scientific Sessions Start at 9:00 AM and Ends at 5:00 PM
Tuesday, November
9, 2004
8:00 AM: Registration Open
8:00 – 9:00 AM: Continental breakfast:
Scientific Sessions Start at 9:00 AM and Ends at 3:45 PM
Day 1: Monday, November 8, 2004:
9.00 – 11.00
AM: Session I: Infectious Diseases and Biological threat
- Chair: Dr. B. A. Wilson
11.30 –
1.00 PM: Session II: Pathogenesis and Therapeutics - Chair:
C. M. Sassetti
LUNCH BREAK
2.15 –
5.00 PM: Session III: Inflammatory Diseases, Toll-Like Receptors
and RNAi Approaches in Infectious diseases - Chair: C.N.
Serhan
Day 2: Tuesday, November 9, 2004:
9.00 AM –
12.20 PM: Session IV: Intravital Immunology and Immunity
- Chair: D. Kasper
LUNCH BREAK
1.30 –
3.00 PM: Session V: Bioweapons, Detection and Vaccine development
- Chair: M. J. Basso
3.10 –
3.40 PM: Session VI: PANEL DISCUSSION Session Moderator:
-Dr. K. Appasani
AGENDA/SPEKERS*
Day 1: Monday, November 8
9.00 AM – 11.00 PM: Session I: Infectious Diseases
and Biological threat
Session Chair: Brenda A. Wilson, PhD. Associate Professor
of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
IL
9.00 –
9.10 AM: Chairman’s Welcoming Note
Krishnarao Appasani, PhD., MBA. GeneExpression Systems,
Inc.
9.10- 9.15 AM: Life-Time Achievement Award Presentation
to Professor R. John Collier
9.15 –
10.00 AM: Inaugural Lecture by John Collier, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, MA
Title: Addressing the threat of anthrax
10.00 –
10.30 AM: Brenda A. Wilson, PhD. Associate Professor of
Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
IL
Title: New Strategies to Combat Botulinum Neurotoxins
10.30 –
11.00 AM: Israel Lowy, MD., PhD. Director, Clinical Science
and Infectious Diseases, Medarex, Inc. Bloomsbury, NJ
Title: Monoclonal antibodies for Infectious agents
11.00 – 11.30 AM: Refreshment Break (30 min): Viewing
Exhibit booths/Posters
11.30 – 1.00 PM: Session II: Pathogenesis and Therapeutics
Session Chair: Christopher M. Sassetti, PhD. Assistant Professor,
University of Massachusetts Medical School
11.30 –
12.00 PM: Ralph Isberg, PhD. Professor of Molecular Biology
and HHMI Investigator, Tufts University Medical School,
Boston, MA
Title: Pathogenesis of Yersinia (Plague) and Legionella
12.00 –
12.30 PM: Sol Langermann, PhD. Chief Scientific Officer,
PharmaThene, Inc. Annapolis, MD
Title: Anthrax Therapeutics
12.30 –
1.00 PM: Christopher M. Sassetti, PhD. Assistant Professor,
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
Title: Insights into mycobacterial pathogenesis revealed
by defining the genetic requirements for infection
1.00 - 2.15 PM: Lunch break (1.15 Min) Lunch will be provided
2.15 – 5.00 PM: Session III: Inflammatory Diseases,
Toll-Like Receptors and RNAi Approaches in Infectious diseases
Session Chair: Charles N. Serhan, Ph.D.
2.15 –
2.20 PM: Outstanding Scientist Award in Inflammation Research
Presentation to Dr. Charles N. Serhan
2.20 –
3.00 PM: Keynote Lecture on Inflammation by Charles N. Serhan,
Ph.D.
Simon Gelman Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
& Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Title: Mapping Resolution Circuitry: Formation and Actions
of Resolvins and Protectins
3.00 –
3.30 PM: Andrew D. Luster, M.D., Ph.D. Division of Rheumatology,
Allergy and Immunology, Center for Immunology and Inflammatory
Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical
School, Charlestown, MA
Title: Chemokines and lipid mediators in inflammation
3.30 –
4.00 PM: Refreshment Break (30 min)
4.00 –
4.30 PM: Douglas Golenbock, MD. Professor of Medicine, Microbiology
& Molecular Genetics, Chief, Division of Infectious
Diseases & Immunology, University of Massachusetts Medical
School, Worcester, MA
Title: The TLR7-9 family of nucleotide receptors
4.30 –
5.00 PM: Premlata Shankar, MD. Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,
Harvard Medical School and Junior Investigator at the CBR
Institute for Biomedical Research, Boston, MA
Title: RNAi targeting shared sequences protect against diverse
mosquito-borne flaviviruses in vitro and in vivo
5.00 PM: End of the Session
Day 2: Tuesday,
November 9
9.00 - 9.05 AM: Chairman’s Opening remarks
9.00 AM – 12.10 PM: Session IV: Intravital Immunology
and Immunity
Session Chair: Dennis Kasper, MD.
9.05 –
9.50 AM: Dennis L. Kasper, M.D. William Ellery Channing
Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and
Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Director, Channing
Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA
Title: Polysaccharide Processing and Presentation by the
MHC Class II Pathway
9.50 –
10.20 PM: Thorsten Mempel, MD. Research Associate in Professor
Uli von Andrian’s Laboratory, Harvard Medical School
& CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Boston, MA
Title: Intravital Immunology: Visualizing T cell activation
and effector function in vivo
10.20 –
10.50 AM: Irene B. Bosch, PhD. Assistant Professor of Medicine,
Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research, University
of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
Title: The gene expression response of human host cells
to flavi-viruses
10.50 - 11.20
AM: Refreshment Break (30 min) Poster and Exhibits viewing
11.20 - 11.50
AM: Dennis W. Metzger, Ph.D. Theobald Smith Alumni Chair,
Professor and Director of the Center for Immunology and
Microbial Diseases, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY
Title: Mucosal Immunopathogenesis of Franscisella tularensis
11.50 –
12.20 PM: M. Timothy Cooke, Ph.D. Senior Vice President,
Commercial Development, AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. Needham,
MA
Title: Oral Vaccines
12.20 – 1.30 PM: Lunch Break (1 hr. 10 min) Lunch
will be provided
1.30 – 3.00 PM: Session V: Bioweapons, Detection and
Vaccine development
Session Chair: Michael J. Basso, MPH. Centers for Disease
Control
1.30 –
2.00 PM: Michael J. Basso, MPH. Public Health Advisor, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for
Infectious Disease Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response
Program, Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Response Branch,
Atlanta, GA
Title: Public health preparedness and surveillance initiatives
in the United States
2.00 –
2.30 PM: David Hoey, Vice President of Business development,
U.S. Genomics, Woburn, MA
Title: Pathogen Detection: Point Solutions, an Invitation
to Trouble
2.30 –
3.00 PM: Piers Whitehead, M.A. Vice President, Corporate
and Business Development, VaxGen Inc. Brisbane, CA
Title: Vaccines and Biodefense: A business perspective
3.00 –
3.10 PM: Refreshment Break (10 min) Close of Exhibit booths
and posters
3.10 –
3.40 PM: Session VI: Panel Discussion Moderator: K. Appasani
Panel Members:
Michael J. Basso, MPH. CDC, Atlanta, GA
Piers Whitehead, M.A. VaxGen Inc. Brisbane, CA
M. Timothy Cooke, Ph.D. AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc. Needham,
MA
Dennis W. Metzger, Ph.D. Albany Medical College, Albany,
NY
Dennis L. Kasper, M.D. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston,
MA
3.40 –
3.45 PM: CLOSING REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN
* Speaker names and order may subject to change.
Font sizes of some of the presentations might be changed
during the production of this proceeding. GES is not responsible
for such changes.
Materials presented in this book should not be reproduced
without the permission of GeneExpression Systems, Inc.
The actual agenda will be updated. Please visit
again.
Scientific
Advisory Committee:
K. Appasani, PhD., MBA. Founder, GeneExpression
Systems, Inc.
Charles N. Serhan, Ph.D. Simon Gelman Professor
of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical
Brenda A. Wilson, PhD. Associate Professor
of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana
Christopher Sassetti, PhD. Assistant Professor,
UMASS Medical School
Dr. Thomas P. Kanyok, UNDP/World Bank/WHO,
Geneva, Switzerland
Dr. Michael Basso, Centers for Disease
Control, Atlanta, GA
Keynote
Speaker on November 8th Monday:
John Collier, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard
Medical School
Key presentations: (Will be updated from time-to-time)
Charles
N. Serhan, Ph.D.
Simon Gelman Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School
& Director of Center for Experimental Therapeutics and
Reperfusion Injury, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston,
MA
- Will cover Eicosonids in Disease
Dennis
L. Kasper, M.D.
William Ellery Channing Professor of Medicine and Microbiology
& Molecular Genetics
Harvard Medical School, Director, Channing Laboratory, Brigham
and Women's Hospital
- Will cover Innate Immunity
Dr.
Michael Basso
United States Public Health Service, Bioterrorism Preparedness
and Response Program, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta,
GA
-Will cover Diagnostics and Surveillance
Andrew
D. Luster, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases,
Massachusetts General Hospital, & Harvard Medical School,
Charlestown, MA
- Will cover Cytokines in inflammation
Sol
Langermann, PhD.
Chief Scientific Officer, PharmaThene, Inc. Annapolis, MD
- Anthrax Detection
Douglas
Golenbock, MD.
Professor of Infectious Diseases and Medicine, Program in
Immunology and Virology,
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
- Will cover Toll-like receptors in sepsis and inflammatory
diseases
Dennis
W. Metzger, Ph.D.
Theobald Smith Alumni Chair, Professor and Director of the
Center for Immunology and Microbial Diseases, Albany Medical
College, Albany, NY
- Will cover mucosal immunity to Francisella
Throsten
Mempel,MD., Post Doctoral Associate from the lab
of Prof. Ulrich H. von Andrian, MD., PhD.
Harvard Medical School & CBR Institute for Biomedical
Research, Boston, MA
- Cellular Mechanisms in Inflammation
Dr.
Thomas P. Kanyok
World Bank and World Health Organization, Geneva 27 Switzerland
- Will cover Global health policy
Ralph
Isberg, PhD.
Professor of Molecular Biology and HHMI Investigator, Tufts
University Medical School, Boston, MA
- Will cover Yersinia (Plague), Legionella
Christopher
Sassetti , PhD.
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
- Will cover Tuberculosis
Brenda
A. Wilson, PhD.
Associate Professor of Microbiology, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, IL
- Will cover Anthrax
Premlata
Shankar, PhD.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
& Junior Investigator at The Center for Blood Research,
Boston MA
- RNAi-mediated inhibition of Flavi-viruses, HIV, and Hepatitis
David Hoey
Vice President of Business Development,
US Genomics Inc., Woburn, MA
Timothy Cooke, PhD.
Vice President of Avant Immunotherapeutics, Needham, MA
Israel Lowy, MD., PhD.
Director of Clinical Science and Infectious Diseases, Medarex
Inc., Bloomsbury, NJ
Piers Whitehead, M.A.
Vice President, Corporate and Business Development, VaxGen
Inc. Brisbane, CA
Irene B. Bosch, PhD.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Center for Infectious Disease
and Vaccine Research, University of Massachusetts Medical
School, Worcester, MA
And many leading
researchers from pharmaceutical and biotech companies will
be speaking on the applications in the emerging field of
infectious diseases.
Sessions and Topics
Inflammation
& Immunity:
• Eicosonids in Arthritis, Asthma & Pulmonary
Diseases
• Cytokines in Inflammation
• Toll-like receptors in sepsis and inflammatory diseases
• Cellular Mechanisms in Inflammation (Macrophages,
Monocytes/Neutrophils)
• Innate Immunity, Mucosal immunity to Francisella
Infectious
Diseases:
• Bacterial & Viral Pathogenesis including Anthrax,
Yersinia (Plague), Legionella
• Anthrax-detection: Past, present and future as a
weapon for Bio-terrorism
• Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Dengue fever; Disease
Diagnostics and Surveillance
• RNAi-mediated inhibition of Flavi-viruses, HIV,
Hepatitis
• Vaccines & Alternative Disease Cure Strategies
• Global Community Heath Care Initiatives, Policies
and Health Reach Program
Twenty speakers
from Academia, Biotech and Pharmaceutical industries will
present cutting-edge results in this meeting.
Abstracts
Addressing
the threat of anthrax
John Collier, PhD. Professor of Microbiology
and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
MA
The anthrax
attacks in the fall of 2001 have focused attention on all
microbes and toxins that may be used for bioterrorism, but
particularly on Bacillus anthracis and its toxin. Anthrax
toxin is an ensemble of three nontoxic proteins that are
secreted by Bacillus anthracis and assemble on the surface
of receptor-bearing mammalian cells into toxic, noncovalent
complexes. Two are of the proteins are enzymes that modify
target cytosolic substrates, and the third mediates entry
of the enzymatic moieties into the cytosol. I will present
recent studies on the assembly and action of the toxic complexes,
and new ways to inhibit toxin action that have emerged from
these studies.
Mucosal Immunopathogenesis
of Franscisella tularensis
Dennis W. Metzger, Ph.D. Theobald Smith
Alumni Chair, Professor and Director of the Center for Immunology
and Microbial Diseases, Albany Medical College, Albany,
NY
Francisella
tularensis is considered to be a Category A agent by the
Centers for Disease Control because of its extreme infectivity,
ease of dissemination, and substantial capacity to cause
illness and death. The pneumonic form of tularemia is the
deadliest form of disease and the form most likely to be
used by bioterrorists, yet the great majority of research
against this organism has focused on systemic rather than
pulmonary infection. The overall goal of our work is to
characterize the association of F. tularensis with immune
cells in the lung, and develop approaches for effective
protection at mucosal surfaces. Recent results to be discussed
indicate that NK cells are an early target for activation
by this biothreat agent and also suggest a pivotal role
for IFN-? and IL-12 in innate protection against respiratory
infection.
RNAi targeting
shared sequences protect against diverse mosquito-borne
flaviviruses in vitro and in vivo
Premlata Shankar, MD. Assistant Professor
of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
and Junior Investigator at The CBR Institute for Biomedical
Research, Boston, MA
We evaluated
RNAi-mediated cross protection against mosquito-borne flaviviruses
Dengue, Japanese encephalitis (JE) and West Nile (WN), which
have been categorized by the CDC as potential agents for
bioterrorism. Targeting conserved flaviviral sequences by
synthetic siRNA or small hairpin RNA from a lentiviral vector
inhibited the 3 viruses to different extents in cell lines.
Intracranial lentiviral delivery the most effective shRNA
directed at a viral envelope sequence protected mice from
both JE and WN encephalitis. Pseudotyping with rabies virus
glycoprotein (Rab-G) enhanced neuronal uptake and offered
better protection compared to VSV-G pseudotyped virus. The
results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of RNAi against
multiple flaviviruses.
Pathogen Detection:
Point Solutions, an Invitation to Trouble
David Hoey, Vice President of Business
development, U.S. Genomics, Woburn, MA
Extensive biosensors
networks will be required as the first line of defense from
biological attack. Most biosensor approaches employ specific
reagents for detection of a small, known set of pathogenic
targets, individually. These "point" approaches
lack economic and technical scalability, and are subject
to significant weakness when the pathogen is new, or has
been engineered or modified to evade detection. US Genomics
is developing a platform that employs a single reagent set
to detect a large number of pathogenic targets by high speed
genomic mapping. Efficacy of the approach was analyzed under
a $750,000 contract with the U.S. Dept. of Defense, and
is presently in Phase I development under a $7.5 million
contract with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security.
Mapping Resolution
Circuitry: Formation and Actions of Resolvins and Protectins
Charles N. Serhan, PhD. Simon Gelman Professor
of Anaesthesia and Director of Center for Experimental Therapeutics
and Reperfusion Injury, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Boston, MA
Charles N.
Serhan, Gerard L. Bannenberg, Nan Chiang, Amiram Ariel,
Makoto Arita, Eric Tjonahen, Katherine H. Gotlinger, and
Song Hong
Center for Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury,
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine,
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
The cellular
events underlying the resolution of acute inflammation are
not known in molecular terms. This presentation will address
our current efforts to map the key components of resolution
from acute inflammation. To identify potential anti-inflammatory
and pro-resolving circuits, we mapped the major events in
resolution using an unbiased mass spectrometry-based proteomics-
and lipidomics-based approach. In this lecture we will report
the temporal and differential changes in cellular composition,
extracellular proteins and lipid mediators within resolving
inflammatory exudates, and define the key resolution components
as essential Resolution Indices. Protein composition was
dynamically regulated with specific changes in identified
extracellular proteins maximal at the onset of resolution.
In addition, selective eicosanoids and poly-unsaturated
fatty acids first appeared at the early inflammatory phase,
followed by appearance of the novel omega-3-derived 10,17S-docosatriene
termed Protectin D1 at the onset of resolution. Administration
of the novel lipid mediators Resolvin E1, Protectin D1,
or lipoxin A4 differentially altered Resolution Indices
and down-regulated pro-inflammatory chemokines. Taken together,
we shall present the characterization of the first molecular
resolution circuits and their major components in vivo that
are activated by specific novel lipid mediators to promote
resolution.
Insights into
mycobacterial pathogenesis revealed by defining the genetic
requirements for infection
Christopher M. Sassetti, PhD. Assistant
Professor, Dept. of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology,
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
The availability
of complete genome sequence information has enabled both
informatic predictions of gene function and comprehensive
analysis of gene expression. Both of these methods can be
used to predict gene function, but these predictions are
far from perfect. We have developed an alternative method,
transposon site hybridization (TraSH), which combines transposon
mutagenesis and microarray technology to determine the relative
contribution of each gene to an organism’s growth
or survival under any particular condition. Using TraSH,
we have defined distinct but overlapping sets of genes as
required for the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis under
multiple conditions including during infection. Recently,
we have adapted this methodology to define functional pathways
by identifying genetic interactions.
Intravital
Immunology: Visualizing T cell activation and effector function
in vivo
Thorsten R. Mempel, MD. Post Doctoral Fellow,
CBR Institute for Biomedical Research and Department of
Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Thorsten R.
Mempel1, Mikael Pittet2, Khashayarsha Khazaie2, Harald von
Boehmer2, Ulrich H. von Andrian1
1CBR Institute
for Biomedical Research and Department of Pathology, Harvard
Medical School, Boston, USA
2Dana Faber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
USA
Priming and
effector-phase of adaptive immune responses rely on the
physical contact of T cells and antigen presenting cells
(APC) to achieve the discriminatory potential necessary
to confer antigen specificity. These interactions are regulated
by soluble factors such as chemokines and lipid mediators,
as well as the structural scaffold provided by extracellular
matrix as well as hematopoetic and non-hematopoetic cells.
Since the complex environments of secondary lymphoid organs
can at present not be mimicked by experimental systems in
vitro, we set out to investigate the cellular dynamics of
immune responses at the single cell level in real time in
vivo. Using multiphoton intravital microscopy of popliteal
lymph nodes in anaesthetized mice, we have visualized the
interactions of naive T cells with dendritic cells (DC).
This has allowed us to characterize the process of T cell
priming in lymph nodes as a three-phase process. During
of the first hours after entry into lymph nodes naive T
cells initially undergo short-lived, serial contacts with
antigen-presenting DC, leading to up-regulation of early
markers of T cell activation. Cytokine secretion commences
during a second phase of long-lasting, stable interactions,
while T cell revert to a phase of transient interactions
during proliferation. More recently, we have been studying
the killing of antigen-pulsed B cells by primed effector
T cells in lymph nodes. First preliminary results from these
experiments will be discussed.
Please
contact if you are interested in speaking in the scientific
or Technology workshops of this meeting.
Exhibitors
are welcome to reserve their booth space.
GeneExpression
Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 540170
Waltham, MA 02454 USA
Tel: (781) 891-8181
Fax: (781) 891-8234
E-mail: Genexpsys@expressgenes.com
www.expressgenes.com
