June 28, 2012
The ITN Directors F2F meeting was held in Vancouver BC last week in concert with the annual conference of FOCIS. One of the highlights of the week was the standing-room-only attendance for the ITN symposia on Wednesday morning. We had a packed room with attentive and engaged participants who experienced the excitement of hearing results—both mechanistic and clinical—from five of our cutting-edge studies. The innovation and impact of our work was on prominent display throughout the conference, a message I’m proud to convey to ITN staff who couldn’t attend.
Looking ahead, we’ve got a very full calendar. There are a number of high priority manuscripts and trials to complete, and several new ones getting underway. We are pushing ahead with prospects for some very exciting combination therapy trials in all four of our therapeutic areas that represent the unique capabilities of the ITN, and remind us of the high expectations in our scientific community for our mission. At the same time, we’ll be setting the stage for the next cycle of ITN funding which begins in 2014. You can expect to see some “FAQ” updates on that topic in the next few months, as we will be focused on maintaining continuity for projects and staff through the process.
One of our goals is to make ITN a resource for translational/clinical immunology, broadly inviting the community to collaborate. We have made substantial progress in this regard, with an increasing number of BioShare projects, data sharing initiatives, and partnering on trials. I wanted to express my thanks to everyone for helping with these important efforts to expand our impact and our mission.
Jerry Nepom, MD, PhDNetwork Director
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