FASEB SRC on Translational Neuroimmunology: From Mechanisms to Therapeutics

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this R13 submission is to request funds to partially support the 2016 FASEB Translational Neuroimmunology conference and its associated pre-meeting course. This will be the 13th FASEB Neuroimmunology conference, with the first being held in 1988. Importantly, it will be the 2nd pre-meeting course on neuroimmunology, the specific purpose of which is to introduce graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and young investigators to basic neuroimmunology concepts and the active participation of these investigators and their integration into the broader research community. These meetings will be held at the Big Sky Resort in Big Sky, MT, with the pre-meeting course on neuroimmunology being held the day of July 24, with the main FASEB meeting beginning the evening of July 24 with two internationally renowned keynote speakers, and continuing until July 29, 2016. The last FASEB meeting was also held in Big Sky, MT in 2014, where Dr. Monica Carson was elected Co-Chair, to work with Dr. Tammy Kielian, Chair of the 2016 meeting. The overall goal of the FASEB Translational Neuroimmunology meeting and its associated pre-meeting course is to bring the world's leading scientists and the most promising young investigators and trainees together in a collegial and supportive environment. The specific goals are to: 1) provide a forum for the presentation of unpublished, cutting-edge research and both formal and informal discussions of the manner in which these results advance the field; 2) include investigators focusing on diverse topics in the neuroimmunology field and highlight translational aspects of this work; 3) include investigators focusing on all aspects of neuroimmunology and provide these investigators with a forum to expand the boundaries of their own work; and 4) ensure development and integration of young investigators into the broader research community in a meaningful and interactive way. The collegial atmosphere will include organized discussion sessions as well as opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons, thus providing an ideal setting for scientists from different disciplines to exchange ideas and foster cross-disciplinary collaborations both among themselves and the next generation of neuroimmunologists. Thus, the FASEB Translational Neuroimmunology conference will provide a unique and fundamentally important opportunity to bring together the world's leading investigators in a format designed for the free exchange of research results and ideas covering all aspects of neuroimmunology and its relationship to disease and, together with the pre-meeting course on neuroimmunology, it will do so in a manner specifically designed to promote the development of promising young investigators in the field and their integration into the larger research community. In the short term, this will significantly enhance the ability of investigators around the world to address critical problems in neuroimmunology, while in the long term it will ensure the continued success of their efforts and those of the next generation ofinvestigators.