More than 8,000 international scientists and clinicians are in Montréal to share the latest advances in Immunology in the July heat. Researchers from 70 countries arrived in the city on July 18 to attend the weeklong 12th International Congress of Immunology (ICI) and 4th Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) meeting.
“There will be over 5,000 presentations including diverse topics such as, asthma, stem cell and bone marrow transplantation, vaccines, arthritis and new therapies for HIV,” says Dr. Emil Skamene, Congress President. “The caliber of the presentations is outstanding and the number of delegates is an indicative of the high interest in this important area of science. The link between science and better treatments for many chronic diseases has been achieved by the integration of the ICI and FOCIS programs – a historical first for these two organizations. This will prove to be an extremely exciting and informative conference.”
“This is meeting is the world’s largest and most prestigious gathering of immunologists,” says Dr. Marianna Newkirk, Congress Scientific Program Chair. “It is the first time these two groups of basic and clinical immunologists will meet in Montréal. The city has done an excellent job of accommodating the needs of this conference – a task only a few cities in Canada can accomplish. We are confident the delegates will have a successful and enjoyable time in Montreal.”
The congress includes a university-industry marketplace, where the transfer of new technologies in immunology from labs to biotech, and pharma spin-offs will be emphasized. Here, the newest inventions from all over the world will be offered for commercialization to Quebec and Canadian venture capital and biotechnology groups. Demonstrations and tutorials of new concepts, equipments, products, and educational clinical immunology symposia of the highest scientific content will also be supported by the world’s leading immunology companies.
The ICI-FOCIS 2004 conference is presented by the National Research Council Canada (NRC), in conjunction with the Canadian Society for Immunology and the International Union of Immunological Societies.