Inauguration D.N. Rao

 

Prof.D.N.Rao

E-mail:dnrao311@rediffmail.com

The 5th FIMSA Congress was held at New Delhi from 14th -17th March 2012. Before the inauguration, a press meet took place on 14.3.2012 at 1.00 PM in the the conference Hall. Dr. Mehra, President of 5th FIMSA narrated the genesis of the conference and how the deliberations from various talks are helpful in the diagnosis

and management of the disease. How transplantation markers help in choosing the donor and recipient are also highlighted. How the basic and applied immunology topics are helpful to the mankind are described in detail. Dr. Stefan Kaufmann, President IUIS narrated the importance of vaccines and immunotherpeutics in every day

Prof.D.N.Rao

life. Dr. Pawan Sharma described the role played by IIS in this conference. Dr. D.N. Rao, Secretary, IIS also described the importance of 5th FIMSA conference how different areas of immunology are brought in this conference. Later a detailed questionnaire was made between the press reporters and the immunologist. How this conference is useful to the diagnosis, management of the disease, how it changed the spectrum of medicine. Later at 3.00 PM, IIS general body meeting was held in the same area. Few major decisions were taken how to make the immunology more close to various categories of life sciences. In the next three years the annual meeting of IIS were to be held were also decided. The places of CME programmes where also decided.

Later in the evening at 6.00 PM, inauguration of the conference was took place in the JNL Auditorium. The dignitaries sat on the dias are Dr. N.K. Mehra, Dr. N.K. Ganguly, Dr. Gustav Nossal, Dr. Nicholas King, Dr. Stephen Kaufmann, Dr. V.M. Katoch, Dr. R.C. Deka, Dr. Pawan Sharma and Dr. D.N. Rao. Since the theme of the congress is translation immunology in helath and disease, all the speakers spoke on novel therapies in infections and autoimmune diseases as well as malignancies, immunotechnology net work, cytokine and inflammation, tumor and transplant immunology, new therapies and adjuvants. Dr. Nossal spoke on how vaccine development from primitive stage to more recent stage arisen was described in detail. How killed, attenuated vaccines and more successful recombinant vaccines helped the mankind free from disease was described. This is followed by dinner in the Swimming Pool lawns with light music.      

The FIMSA Council Meeting : Ist Day 15.3.2012 D.N. Rao

The main conference was arranged at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi. The conference was started with two master lecturers one by Dr. Abul Abbas. How natural, activated, cytokine induced T reg cells are generated in the periphery was described. He proved the same using transgenic and knockout mice model. The second lecture was given by Dr. James Mc Cluskey He described the importance of immune response genes and its polymorphism in immunity, transplantation and autoimmunity. This was followed by three parallel theme based sessions in separate rooms. In the first room, six lecturers, they are mostly on immune regulatory net work. The first lecture by Dr. Yousuke Takahama, How T lymphocyte repertoire formation happens in multiple thymic micro environment, the second lecture by Dr. Hannes Stockinger by using live cell imaging with novel micro Patterning to quantify lipid raft for TCR, LCK and coreceptor binding during adaptive immune response. The third lecture by Dr. Paola Castagnoli how NFAT signaling helps in myeloid hematopoises and DC activation. The fourth lecture by Dr. Chiplunkar how Notch signaling helps in the activation of ãä T cells for antitumor effect. The fifth lecture by Dr. Joshy Jacob how CD28-B7 interaction regulate the short and long lived plasma cells. The last lecture by Dr. Satyajit Rath, how apoptosis inducing factor regulate T cell death through ROS.

In the second room, Dr. Guna Karupiah gave a talk on how Fox virus infection through thymic B-selection leads to reduction in TNF-á release for its survival. The second lecture by Dr. Libero

The FIMSA Council members after the award ceremony on March 15, 2012.

described that how glycolipid antigens and phosphrylated glycolipids are recognized by non MHC molecules. The third lecture by Dr. D.K. Mitra how T-regulatory cells inhibit Mycobacterial effector T-cell population & also mentioned during therapeutics, how the T regulatory population decreases with concomitant increase in IFN-ã Production. Dr. Javed Agrewala gave a talk on the importance of promiscuous peptide from 16 Kda antigen of mycobacterium tuberculosis with palmitile group, how it activates innate & adaptive immunity was described in detail.Dr. Natrajan Krishnamurty spoke on the VGCC that maintains calcium homeostasis, plays an important role in regulating immune response to pathogens. The last speaker Dr. Wongratanacheewin S spoke on Opisthorchis Viverrini a Helminth Parasite, produce regulatory cytokines such as TGF-â and IL-10 to evade the immune system for its survival.

In the third room, the first speaker Dr. Bhagirath Singh spoke on two types of TH 17 cells one involved in protection and other involved in autoimmunity. The second speaker is Dr. Cindy S Ma who spoke on human T follicular helper cells. How these cells interact with B cells for further differentiation into antibody producing cells were discussed in detail.

The next talk is by Dr. Nicholas King, how leucocytes infiltration into the infected tissue is critical for virus elimination especially in the brain. The other lecture is by Dr. Vineeta Bal, spoke on activation potential of aged & younger T cells through adoptive transfer experiment was described in detail. Thereby mentioning how aged T cells proliferate poorly. The last talk is by Dr. Stefano Fiorucci, how probiotics are helpful in reducing the inflammatory stress. This is followed by lunch and during lunch session three companies such as Life Technologies, Beckton Dickinson and Roche who spoke on their company products useful to the immunological work.

After lunch there are three parallel workshops sessions, the first one was presided by Dr. Lucia Morin He introduced the topic of the session immunoregulatory mechanism. He spoke on importance of

CD1 in fine being the CD1 restricted T cells leading to autoimmunity, the other chairperson Dr. Shripad Patil spoke on the role of parasite Taenia Solium how it infects the CNS that leads to neurocysticerosis. There are total 11 speakers to who spoke on different immunological aspects of the disease and its pathways. In the second room one of the chairperson Dr. Banerjee spoke on the importance of IL6 for increasing the pain and pain severity in fibromyalgia. The other chairperson Dr. Beenu Joshi spoke on the differential expression of where is dominant M. tuberculosis antigens for vaccine purpose and diagnostic purpose. In this session there are eight speakers who spoke on various aspects of infection and immunity.

In the third room one of the chairperson Dr. Rajni Rani spoke on theimportance of MHC class I and II molecules in vitiligo. The other chairperson Dr. Sangita Mukhpadhya who spoke on the importance of ROS in immunosupression of the microbacterial disease. There are eight speakers who spoke on various aspects of autoimmunity and tolerance.

In the evening there was a round table session on gender equality and career development. Lot of discussion took place between the chairperson and delegates in science development, information technology development and other related issues. This is followed by poster view session by the delegates.

The FIMSA Council Meeting : IInd Day 16.3.2012 D.N. Rao

In the second day the first master lecture was given by Dr. Rafi Ahmad on human B cell response to influenza virus. He described regarding the neutralizing antibodies which are reactive to conserved Stem region of HA generated in people infected with HIN1 pandemic strain. He

further showed how to induce such type of antibodies by vaccination in humans.

The second lecture is by Dr. Stefan H.E. Kaufmann who described on subunit vaccines and viable attenuated vaccines with important biomarkers. He tested ã-interferon is not a reliable biomarker. After tea, three parallel theme base symposiums were conducted in three rooms. In the first room there were six speakers. The first speaker Dr. Jonathan Sprent who spoke on how to expand T cells subsets in vivo with IL-2 monoclonal antibody complex. This has implication in general immunity and tolerance to transplantation. The second lecture is by Dr. Rajeev Khanna who spoke on cellular immune therapy for infectious complications in transplant patients. He also cited a Novel T cell based immune monitoring technology to identify high risk transplant patients.

The third lecture is by Dr. Catherine Sautes–Fridman who spoke on how multi faceted tumor micro environment will impair the NK cells and hence make them less prone to kill tumor.

The forth lecture is by Dr. Nina Bhardwaj who spoke on how to modulate Dendritic cell function in tumors after exposure to MMP2.

The FIMSA Council meeting in New Dehli, March 15, 2012

The fifth lecture is by Dr. Kaji Nomoto who spoke on how probiotics are useful to exert preventive activity against cancer by Lacto bacillus casei strain (LOS).

The last lecture is by Dr. Syamal Roy who spoke on how the infected macrophages of L. donovani show defective cellular immunity due to increased membrane fluidity.

In the 2nd room, the Ist lecture was given by Dr. Olivera J. Finn, he spoke on two important antigens Muc 1 & cyclin B1, as a prophylactic approach for cancer therapy.

The 2nd lecture by Dr. Nilabh Shastri, who spoke on the peptides derived from Toxoplasma govodii how it can be targeted to CD8 T cells to produce the adaptive immunity.

The 3rd lecture is Dr. Gregory J Tsay, who spoke on the role of SiRNA approach in inhibiting IL-10 production in experimentally induced SLE.

The 4th lecture by Dr. Chetan E. Chitnis, who spoke on how to use rat cells invading antigens by malarial parasites for vaccine against malaria.

The 5th lecture by Dr. Nirbhay Kumar, who spoke on the antigen derived from transmission blocking stage of malaria as a vaccine candidate.

The last lecture is by Dr. Sunil Arora who spoke on how chronicity of hepatitis C inbibit DC maturation.

In the 3rd room, the 1st lecture is by Dr. Chella David, who spoke on the role of various class II alleles viz a viz to sensitivity & susceptibility of multiple sclerosis.

The 2nd lecture is by Dr. Kamal Moudgil who spoke on the role of various cytokines especially the IL-17, IL-27 and IFNã in inducing inflammation & arthritis.

The 3rd lecture is by Dr. Anna Erdei, who spoke on the role of CRI complement in RA & SLE, how memory B cells, naive B cells and germinal centre B cells induce CR1 complement was discussed in detail.

The 4th lecture is by Dr. Veena Taneja, who spoke on the interaction of HLA genes & gut microbes leading to systemic immune environment & these gut microbes can be used as a biomarker in arthritis.

The 5th lecture is by Dr. Moncef Zouali who spoke on the role of newer biodrugs in reducing the B cell as well as T cell function.

The last lecture is by Dr. Rahul Pal, who spoke on in SLE patients, how anti Hb antibodies aggrevates the disease was discussed in detail.

This is followed by lunch.

After lunch, there are 10 best oral presentees for New York Academy of Science, 3 best awards. The 1st talk is by Dr. K.H. Bhatt, who spoke on the PPA protein derived Mycobacterium tuberculosis, how this protein inhibits Nitric oxide synthesis, thereby helping the multiplication of M. tuberculosis.

The 2nd lecture is by Dr. Fatia Mami Chauheb who spoke on the identification of antigen in human lung cancer patients, how it activates CD 8 T cells was discussed in detail.

The 3rd lecture is by Dr. Neeraj Kumar, who spoke on the association of HLA-DR3 alleles in Type I diabetes. He also highlighted polymorphism of nearest cytokine genes.

The 4th lecture by Dr. Supriya Mahajan, who spoke on unique protein biomarkers associated with HIV progression were identified using proteomic approach.

The 5th lecture is by Dr. Margalit Alon who showed a novel approach using peptide â-2M TLR complex loaded dendritic cells as vaccine

therapies.

The 6th lecture is by Dr. Shekhar Malhotra, who spoke on T cells inginate with high affinity with its receptor offer better tumor protection than low affinity T cell receptors. This approach does not require the presence of CD4 and CD8 co-receptors.

The 7th lecture is by Dr. Raza Ali Naqvi who spoke on the presence of over population of CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ Cells & their cross-talk with HDAC 7/9 with HAT is responsible for immunosuppression in leprosy patients.

The 8th lectures by Dr. Sheela Ramanathan, who spoke on the primary role of IL-15 in the pathogenesis of Type I diabetes.

The last speaker is Dr. Helen Thomas, who spoke on how the blocking of pro-inflammatory cytokines & simulataneous over expression of Socs1 stores the â-cell function in type 1 diabetes.

After careful judgement by a panel of judges three presentees were declared for best oral presentation. They were;

1. Dr. Khalid Hussain Bhat

2. Dr. Fathia Mami Chouaid

3. Dr. Neeraj Kumar

In the evening, after tea, there are two master lectures, one by Dr. N.K. Mehra who spoke on how the role of HLA antibodies from donor are associated with poor graft survival patients who develop anti HLA & anti MICA antibodies showed projection of the graft especially in renal transplantation.

The 2nd talk is by Dr. Shigeo Koyasu, who spoke on how natural helper cells from the innate lymphocytes are involved in

eosinophillic & allergic diseases.

In the evening, poster view was done by the participants.

The FIMSA Council Meeting : IIIrd Day 17.3.2012 D.N. Rao

The 1st master lecture was given by Dr. G.P. Talwar who spoke on Immunological approach of fertility control using HCG & LH RH.The same hormones were also used for prostrate carcinoma

The 2nd lecture is by Dr. Vijay Kuchroo, who spoke on TH17 – T cells, how they effect Trag cells during inflammation.

After Tea break, in the 1st room, the Ist speaker is Dr. Miles Davenport who spoke on, how a single peptide gives rise to repertoire of clonotype during infection.

The 2nd talk is by Dr. Jorge Kalil, who spoke on the new generation vaccine to streptococcus to prevent Rheumatic fever.

The 3rd lecture is by Dr. D.N. Rao, how Treg cells cause Immunosuppression through Socs 1 & mir 155.

The 4th lecture is by Dr. Padmini Salgame, patients suffering with Mycobacterium infection when co-infected with Helmenths, how difficult it is to manipulate the immune system.

The 5th lecture is by Dr. Chitra Mandal who spoke on the role of sialic acid on Psendomonas aerngunose in inhibiting innate mechanism through neutrophils.

The last lecture is by Dr. Suresh Mahelingam, who spoke on how Chikungunya induce arithritis like symptoms & how it can be reversed by using a MCP 1 inhibitor bindarit.

In the 2nd room, the 1st lecture is by Dr. Rose Ffrench, who spoke on

the importance of IFN α in clearing the HCV virus in chronic situation.

Dr. Gurvindar Kaur spoke on the gentic architecture of HIV infection by studying the various cytokine polymorphism.

The 3rd lecture is by Dr. Stanley Schwartz. who spoke on the importance of Nanotechnology for chemotherapy in HIV patients.

The 4th lecture is by Dr. Madhu Vajpayee who spoke on the down regulation of CD4 cells in HIV infection following immunosuppression.

The 5th lectue is by Dr. Ashok Kumar, who spoke on the posibility of modulating TLR signal as a novel approach in preventing occular diseases.

The last lectue is by Dr. Nirupama Trehanpati, who spoke on how the immunocompetent adults of HBV infection results in self limiting illness with only 5-10% rates of chronicity while in new borns vertical transmission of HBV from mother to new born leads to 90% chronicity.

In the 3rd room, the 1st speaker is Dr. Jose. A. Villandangos, who spoke on intracellular mechanism underlying antigen presenting functions on dendritic cells subtype.

The 2nd lecture is by Dr. Ramraj Singh who spoke on a novel mechanism, the involvement of tissue resident T cells & its migration to local DC staying at draining lymphnodes. The study proved to have implication in auto immunity & vaccination.

The 3rd lecture is by Dominique charron who spoke on by accessing the histocompatibility status & the immunogenicity risk index prior to use for any type of stem cells as well as monitoring the host transplant immune responses are key to sustain the development of cells based regenerative medicine.

The 4th lecture is by Dr. Stephen Minger who spoke on the

importance of Human stem cells in Myocardial infraction, Parkinson’s disease, Alzhimer’s disease, diabetes & multiple sclerosis.

The last lecture is by Dr. H.T. Chung, who spoke on how CO2 attenuate acute phase proteins induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress.

After lunch, their were three parallel sessions, in the 1st room, the Chairperson Dr. Pratima Ray spoke on the importance of developing Rotavirus vaccine in India & the other Chairperson, Dr. Chaterjee spoke on the IgG mediated food allergy, the involvement of cytokines & Treg cells, how it worsened in children was described.

There were nine speakers who spoke on different aspects of vaccines, adjuvants & diagnostics with various communicable & non-communicable diseases.

In the 2nd room the chairperson is Dr. Uma Kanga, who spoke on the importance of KIR ligends mismatch leading to NK cell alloreactivity, post haematopoetic stem cell transplantation.

The 2nd chairperson Dr. Sanjay Aggarwal, who spoke on the longitivity of kidney transplantation with current Indian scenario was discussed in detail.

There are 10 speakers in this session who spoke on different aspects of stem cells & their role in transplant immunology.

In the 3rd room, the Chairperson Dr. S.K. Biswas, who spoke on the importance of monocytes & macrophages in human cancer progression.

The 2nd Chairperson is Dr. Mustaq Siddiqi, who spoke on the low prevelance rate of H. Pylori infection in coloractal. cancer patients of Kashmir population.

In the last two master lectures one by Dr. Xeautao Cao, who spoke on the factors involved in epigenetic modifications of DNA

methylation regulating DC differentiation & LPS induced DC maturation through targeting key genes.

The last lecture is by Dr. Reinhold E. Schimdt, who spoke on how the knock out mice helped in understanding the autoimmunity through the generation of auto antibodies.

This is followed by valedictory function presided by Dr. M.K. Bhan, Secretary, Dept. of Biotechnology, New Delhi.

The best poster presentation awards, the best oral presentation awards were given by Dr. Bhan & newly elected president of FIMSA Dr. Xeautao Cao.

Few delegates spoke about their experience with the 5th FIMSA conference & IIS Secreary also spoke about the success of the conference.

On the whole it was a very successful conference organized by Dr. Mehra & his group and total of 600 delegates attended the conference.

The FIMSA New Delhi Council Meeting Nicholas King

Date: March 15, 2012. Venue: 2020 meeting room on 20th floor, Hotel Le Meridien, New Dehli The President , Nicholas J.C. King declared the meeting open Presentation of FIMSA 2012 Travel Bursaries as follows: The attendances: President: Nicholas King, Secretary-General: Gregory Tsay , Treasurer: Shigeo Koyasu , Vice Presidents: Sansanee Chairyaroj ( absent) and Xuetoa Cao, Councillors: D Nageshwar Rao, Yosuke Takahama, Hun-Taeg Chung, Pak-Leong

Nicholas King

Lim, Guna Karupiah, Surasakdi Wongratanacheewin, Geethani Galagoda ( absent), Jiang-Long Huang (absent), Paola Castagnoli 1. President's report: 2013: training course in Thailand in October 2014: an experimental technique symposium in Singapore 2015 2015 6th FIMSA Congress in Singapore Ask the organizes of the FIMSA Congress to rent the meeting room for the future FIMSA Council Meeting 2. Secretary General's report Newsletter, two issues has been published FIMSA travel award: 11 awardees as follows: 3. Equal gender committee: organize a small committee by Paola 4. The New young investigator awards with lectures will be organized in the future by Xuetao Cao (one man and one woman) and the requirement: age under 40 or seven year after Ph.D degree and will collaborate with big pharma. 5. Date and venue of the next FIMSA Council Meeting: Milan, August, 2013 6. Election 7. Close of the Meeting

 

List of FIMSA travel bursary recipients 2012 Gregory J Tsay

There were 24 applicants and finally11recipients were selected 1. Anita Rana: House No-L25, Phase

–II, Pallavpuram, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA-250110, anitabiotech@gmail.com

2. Aparanji Poosarla: Dr. Aparanji Poosarla, Ph.D. Teaching Associate/DST women Scientist, Department of Biochemistry, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Email: apara_p@yahoo.co.in

3. Gathsaurie Malavige: 17/4, Wijerama road, Gangodawila, Nugegoda. gathsaurie.malavige@ndm.ox.ac.uk or neelikamalavige@gmail.com

4. Kaustuv Nayak: Division of HIV/AIDS, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Indian Council of Medical Research,(I.C.M.R), Mayor V.R.Ramanathan Road,Chetput, Chennai – 600031, kaustuvnayak@gmail.com

5. Chowdhury Ahsan: C. R. Ahsan, Ph.D., Department of Microbiology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh, crahsan@univdhaka.edu, crahsan@yahoo.com

6. Vikas Verma: Room no110, Dept. of Biotechnology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences,New Delhi, 110029, India , vikasbio@gmail.com

7. Khageswar Sahu: Laser Biomedical Applications and Instrumentation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre ForAdvanced technology, Indore -452013, Madhya Pradesh,India. khageswar@rrcat.gov.in. no acceptance letter

8. Ravi Yadav: Dept. of Biochemistry, MGIMS, Sevagram, Wardha-442102 (MS),

Shanghai meeting 2011

E-mail: rspybiotech@gmail.com 9. Ramendra Pati: Address- At- Nayagawn, Po-Hathwa, Dis-

Gopalganj,Bihar,India, Pin-841436 Temporary Add. - H-2938, Arya Pura, Sabzi Mandi, Ghanta Ghar, New-Delhi, India, 110007. E-mail: ramendrajnu@rediffmail.com, ramendra.pandey@gmail.com

10. Sanjana Devi: c/o Prof. T.K.Maiti, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur , Kharagpur– 721302,West Bengal, India. sanjana0501@gmail.com ; sanjana_daisy5@yahoo.co.in

11. Ramya Duraisamy: Post Graduate Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, ramya.susila@gmail.com      

Awardees and new officers in New Delhi, 2012 Gregory J Tsay

1. Anita Rana: Uttar Pradesh, INDIA 2. Aparanji Poosarla ( 4th from L’t): Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, , INDIA 3. Gathsaurie Malavige( 1th from l’t): Nugegoda, Sri lanka 4. Kaustuv Nayak( 2nd from l’t): Chennai, India 5. Chowdhury Ahsan: Dhaka, Bangladesh, 6. Vikas Verma( 7th from R’t ): New Delhi, India 7. Khageswar Sahu: Madhya Pradesh,India 8. Ravi Yadav ( 5th from r’t): Wardha, India 9. Ramendra Pati Pandey ( 8th from r’t): New-Delhi, India 10. Sanjana Devi ( 6th from L’t): West Bengal, India. 11. Ramya Duraisamy ( 8th from l’t): Tamil Nadu, India President:

The FIMSA Council members

af ter the award ceremony on

March 15, 2012.

Xuetoa Cao, Chinese Society for Immunology ( 4th from r’t) Secretary-General: Gregory Tsay, Society for Immunology located in Taipei ( 1st from r’t) Treasurer: Shigeo Koyasu, Japanese Society for Immunology ( 3rd from r’t) Vice Presidents: D Nageshwar Rao, Indian Immunology Society ( 10th from r’t) Guna Karupiah, Autralian Society for Immunology ( 9th from r’t) Past President: Nicholas King, Australian Society for Immunology ( 9th from l’t) Councillors: Guna Karupiah, Australia ( 9th from r’t) Xuetoa Cao, China ( 4th from r’t) Pak-Leong Lim, Hong Kong (2nd from r’t) Sunil Arora, India ( 3rd from l’t) Yosuke Takahama, Japan (6th from r’t) Paola Castagnoli, Singapore ( 7th from l’t) Surasakdi Wongratanacheewin, Thailand (5th from r’t)

Report on 5th Congress of the FIMSA by Ramendra Pati Pandey

Gregory J Tsay

The 5th Congress of FIMSA was held in New-Delhi from 14th March to 17th March, 2012. It was organized by the Indian Immunology Society and the International Union of Immunological Societies. The major topics covered by the scientific sessions were Translational Immunology in Health and Disease. According to the organizers more than 500 delegates participated in this Congress. The Scientific program was well organized and well planned which ensured participation of different fields of immunology. The Congress was inaugurated by the Prof. Sir Gustav Nossal (Australia). There were Master lectures sessions in the morning

every day on the some particular topics of immunology followed by a session of symposia. The rest of the day was allocated to Work Shops and Poster viewing, and poster viewing was continued till 8.00 p.m. There were Master lectures on Peripheral Regulatory T Cells which confirmed that antigen and cytokines are major stimuli that induce peripheral Tregs and control the balance of effector and regulatory cells. Extending these results to define the biology of peripheral Tregs in humans is an important goal of future studies. The finding of the Stefan H.E.Kaufmann, Understanding Host- Pathogen Interactions in Tuberculosis through Global gene expression profiling has provided proof of concept that discrimination of latent infection vs. Active TB disease is feasible. Metabolomics also allowed robust discrimination between healthy individuals and TB patients. In the future custom-made biosignatures will significantly contribute to the rational design of novel intervention measures for TB control. In brief, it was a very well prearranged congress, which was much better than my expectation. This Conference gave me a broader prospective in the field of immunology and also helped me to know about the latest findings and technological advancement in this field. Personally, I have benefited particularly during the poster session where I got an opportunity to develop my contacts and discuss my work with some leading scientists. The suggestions were very precious and will surely help me in improving my work. The Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia Oceania has given me the travel award to attain this Congress. I am very much grateful to the FIMSA for providing me the necessary support which made it possible for me to get all these opportunities from FIMSA 2012. Ramendra Pati Pandey PhD Student K.M.College, Department of Zoology University of Delhi, Delhi-07.

Awardees and new officers in New Delhi, 2012 Gregory J Tsay

1. Welcome and opening remarks (Professor Nicholas J.C. King) 2. Minutes of the FIMSA Meeting in Kobe 3. President’s report 4. Secretary General’s report:

- Two issues of the FIMSA newsletter. The next issue will be edited by Dr. Rao, India and published in January 2012

- FIMSA Congress 2012: The president of FIMSA 2012 congress will be held in New Delhi, the President of the congress: professor Narinder Mehra and the FIMSA training course in India on March 18-20

From the Allergy and Immunology Society of Sri Lanak has changed this year. President - Prof. Anura Weerasinghe, Secretary - Dr. Geethani Galagoda Message from Philippine: professor Marysia T. Recto M Message from Malaysia: Maryam Azlan 5. Treasurer’s report 6. Plans on the future meeting

- 1. From Surasak, Thailand: to host for Next FIMSA congress and training course

- 2. from Paola, Sigapore: the next FIMSA - 3. from Iran ?

7. Equal gender opportunity committee: Paola 8. The FIMSA Awards ( Xuetao Cao) 9. Any other business 10. Date and venue of the next FIMSA Council Meeting: March,

2012, India Close of the Meeting

Shanghai meeting 2011

2013: training course in Thailand 2015 FIMSA congress in Singapore Travel award 2012: invite 3-5 reviewers Equal gender committee: organize a small committee by Paola and discuss in the next FIMSA council meeting in India. Paola probably organizes an experimental technique symposium in 2013 New awards: organize the young investigator awards (one man and one woman) and award lecture were proposed by xuetao and wil be discussed in the next FIMSA council meeting in India. Further contact with the potential new members from Malaysia, Philipine (already joined IUIS), Indonesia, Vietnam : Guna and Surasak like to further contact them. The next FIMSA Council Meeting will be held on March 15, 2012, Thurday and should be confirmed by Narinder.