Antibodies and complement : B cells, antibodies, complement functions & therapeutics
May 26-30, 2025 | Catania, Sicily, ITALY
About the meeting
The antibody response and the complement system are major effector arms of the immune system. They contribute to destruction of infectious invaders and unhealthy cells. Upon Fab binding, the antibody’s Fc region induces target cell clearance by recruiting proteins of the human complement system, which trigger a sequence of reactions that results in effective phagocytosis and direct target cell lysis.Next to their beneficial role in host defenses, antibodies and complement are also involved in a plethora of pathological conditions, including autoimmunity, allergy, infections and cancer.As the portfolio of antibody—and complement-effector function grow, high-end technological solutions are developed and novel therapeutic applications are proposed.
This 4th conference on Antibodies & Complement will focus attention on key advances in both fields with the aim at fostering discussions between antibody experts and complement experts. This edition will expand to antibody-producing cell (B & plasma cell) generation and vaccine development.This is the only meeting combining antibody and complement research.Some of the critical topics to be covered include:
*GERMINAL CENTERS, B CELL AND ANTIBODY DEVELOPMENT
*COMPLEMENT MEDIATED RESPONSES AND DRUGS
*ANTIBODY INDUCED COMPLEMENT ACTIVITY
*NOVEL THERAPEUTICS IN THE CLINIC
*VACCINES & DELIVERY SYSTEMS
Image credits: Joost Bakker (Scicomvisuals, Amsterdam) and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24626930
Confirmed speakers
Michel Nussenzweig
The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
Carola Vinuesa
The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
Suzan Rooijakkers
UMC, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Jose Villadangos
University of Melbourne, Australia
Facundo Batista
Ragon Institute, MIT, USA
Ziv Shulman
Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel
Hugo Mouquet
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
Alex Sigal
African Health Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Laura Walker
Moderna, Lebanon, NH, USA
Rick Kapur
Sanquin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Wioleta Zelek
Cardiff University, UK
Anna Blom
Lund University, Sweden
Edward F. Patz
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Esther Breij
Genmab, The Netherlands
Rony Dahan
Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel
Brian Hie
Stanford, CA, USA
Jordan Dimitrov
Cordeliers Research Center, Paris, France
Leendert Trouw
Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, NL
Program (uploaded soon)
Registration
STUDENT / POST-DOC / ENGINEER
700€
- Registration
- Double occupancy hotel room
- All meals & coffee breaks
ACADEMIC
1000€
- Registration
- Single occupancy hotel room
- All meals & coffee breaks
INDUSTRY
1300€
- Registration
- Single occupancy hotel room
- All meals & coffee breaks
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- Registration to the conference (all oral presentations, poster session & discussions)
- Housing for 4 nights at the 4* hotel venue (May 26-30, 2024):
- single occupancy for academic & industry registrants
- double (shared) occupancy for student/post-doc/engineer registrants
- Full board: all meals & coffee breaks from the first session to the breakfast on departure day, refreshments during poster sessions
- Note: Guest registration (partner/husband/spouse) is possible at €400 and includes shared accommodation with the primary registrant, food and coffee breaks, but does not include participation in the workshop program nor does it allow access to the sessions. For participants traveling with <18 year old children or infants, please contact the organizers for financial arrangements and access to sessions.
SELECTION CRITERIA (Poster/short-talk)
Abstracts for poster presentations are reviewed and selected by the organizers based solely on the quality of scientific content. All abstracts are assigned a poster number for presentation during the poster session at the meeting.
≥18 short-talks will be chosen from the selected abstracts by session chairs for oral presentations.
ABSTRACT GUIDELINES
Exclude email addresses, phone numbers, hyperlinks, keyword lists, comments, text or image boxes.
Maximum 2200 characters including spaces. Also includes title, authors, affiliations, references and funding.
One abstract per submitting author per meeting. Submitting author and account name must match. Submitting author must be underlined.
POSTER SPECIFICATIONS
Each poster will have 1 m by 1 m (3.3 ft by 3.3 ft) of space available for display.
TRAVEL GRANTS / PRIZES
We expect to grant up to 20 travel grants or prizes to registered students/post-docs following a selection by the organizers based on the submitted abstract. These travel grants / prizes will be announced during the meeting, and distributed on site or after the meeting.
ONLINE PAYMENTS
The organizers have enabled online credit card payments. Please see the Payments section, above, for details.
Organizers
Venue
Four Points by Sheraton Catania Hotel & Conference Center
Via Antonello da Messina 45, Aci Castello, Catane, Italy, 95021
Phone : +39 095-7114111
ACCOMMODATION
Students/post-docs registration: 2 person room sharing
Academic/Industry registration: single room
TRANSPORT
The venue is located only 13km form the Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, and 7km form the Catania train station.
Travelling by train is possible from the Messina train station (2h).
Transportation from the Catania Airport or Train station might be arranged if attendance to the meeting is sufficiently high (buses would be departing from the airport and/or train station at times will we indicate closer to the meeting dates). We ask the confirmed participants to inform our secretary about their arrival airport and time.
ABOUT THE AREA
The Sheraton Hotel is located close to the Catania city center. The clear Mediterranean sea surrounds the the area. The Etna volcano is 1 hour North by bus/car and will be proposed as an excursion during the conference.