Conference: From Omics to Function, Future Directions for Comparative Immunology, NACI Workshop, June 12-15, 2017, Raleigh, North Carolina

会议：从组学到功能，比较免疫学的未来方向，NACI 研讨会，2017 年 6 月 12-15 日，北卡罗来纳州罗利

• 批准号: 1725127
• 负责人: Jeffrey Yoder
• 金额: $ 0.84万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-04-01 至 2018-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1725127&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Conference; Omics; Function; Future; Directions

This award will provide support for the North American Comparative Immunology Workshop (NACI 2017), which will be held June 12-15, 2017 in Raleigh, NC. As a field, comparative immunology is undergoing a transformation propelled by the emergence of new and innovative genomic technologies and the recognition of a wider biological role for immunity. The study of organisms from the very simple (sponges) to the most complex (higher plants and animals) provides unique insight into immunobiology, medicine and evolution. NACI 2017 is designed to bring together established and early career investigators who study immune function in a diverse range of animal species to discuss current research, assess the future directions of the comparative immunology community and develop a plan for meeting these needs. This workshop is expected to result in increased understanding of comparative immunology, which in turn will lead to novel disease prevention and treatment strategies. The majority of the requested funds will be used to provide trainee stipend awards to twenty trainees, which will allow these trainees to participate in the NACI 2017 workshop. Efforts will be made to recruit participants from under-represented groups. The results discussed at the workshop will be disseminated by a publication summarizing the meeting, and on a freely accessible internet site.The North American Comparative Immunology Workshop (NACI 2017) will bring together comparative immunologists from across the continent. Collectively, these research groups study species from sponges to mammals from a variety of angles; including pathology, development, evolution, and ecology. Although the studied species may be diverse, current research strategies rely on similar omics-based strategies to identify immune-related sequences in each species. Genomic studies demonstrate that even closely related species can possess numerous divergent immune genes and that genes once thought to be indispensable for immune function in one lineage have been lost in others. It is also becoming clear that orthologous immune genes, once thought to play the same role in all species, may in fact, play different roles in different species. These findings are germane not only to our understanding of the natural history of immunity and vaccine development in aqua- and agri-culturally important species but also to the development of human immunotherapeutic monoclonals (the fastest growing sector of the pharmaceutical industry). Thus, there is an imminent need to develop assays to study immune gene function in a wide range of species. Despite the recent development of efficient and broadly applicable genome engineering techniques, technological hurdles remain for non-model species, such as the lack of reference genomes, lack of inbred or clonal lines, long generation times and failure to reproduce in captivity. NACI 2017 will provide a venue for the whole field to discuss these hurdles extensively, as a community, and develop a vision for moving Comparative Immunology forward.

该奖项将为北美比较免疫学研讨会 (NACI 2017) 提供支持，该研讨会将于 2017 年 6 月 12 日至 15 日在北卡罗来纳州罗利举行。 作为一个领域，由于新的和创新的基因组技术的出现以及对免疫更广泛的生物学作用的认识，比较免疫学正在经历一场变革。对从非常简单的（海绵）到最复杂的（高等植物和动物）的生物体的研究为免疫生物学、医学和进化提供了独特的见解。 NACI 2017 旨在汇集研究多种动物物种免疫功能的成熟和早期职业研究人员，讨论当前研究，评估比较免疫学界的未来方向，并制定满足这些需求的计划。本次研讨会预计将增进对比较免疫学的了解，进而产生新的疾病预防和治疗策略。 大部分申请资金将用于向 20 名学员提供学员津贴，以便这些学员能够参加 NACI 2017 研讨会。将努力从代表性不足的群体中招募参与者。 研讨会上讨论的结果将通过总结会议的出版物和可免费访问的互联网网站进行传播。北美比较免疫学研讨会 (NACI 2017) 将汇集来自整个非洲大陆的比较免疫学家。 总的来说，这些研究小组从不同的角度研究从海绵到哺乳动物的物种。包括病理学、发育学、进化论和生态学。 尽管所研究的物种可能多种多样，但当前的研究策略依赖于类似的基于组学的策略来识别每个物种中的免疫相关序列。基因组研究表明，即使是密切相关的物种也可能拥有许多不同的免疫基因，而曾经被认为对一个谱系的免疫功能不可或缺的基因在其他谱系中已经丢失。人们也越来越清楚，曾经被认为在所有物种中发挥相同作用的直系同源免疫基因实际上可能在不同物种中发挥不同的作用。这些发现不仅与我们对水产和农业重要物种的免疫自然史和疫苗开发的理解密切相关，而且与人类免疫治疗单克隆抗体（制药行业增长最快的部门）的开发密切相关。因此，迫切需要开发分析方法来研究多种物种的免疫基因功能。尽管最近开发了高效且广泛适用的基因组工程技术，但非模式物种仍然存在技术障碍，例如缺乏参考基因组、缺乏近交系或克隆系、世代时间长以及圈养繁殖失败。 NACI 2017 将为整个领域提供一个场所，作为一个社区广泛讨论这些障碍，并制定推动比较免疫学向前发展的愿景。