A Fully Virtual Experience

The International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS), is the world’s largest multidisciplinary organization advancing both fundamental and clinical research specific to the role of cytokines in health and disease. Our annual gathering of 700-1,100 investigators from academia, government and industry is an important time for our community to come together with the goal to bring together scientists from diverse areas of biomedical research to discuss the latest breakthroughs and insights into how cytokines and interferons regulate immunity, inflammation, metabolism, and cancer. Greater understanding of mechanisms of disease and novel concepts for therapy have and will continue to emerge from multidisciplinary gatherings where advances can be presented and discussed by established and trainee scientists.

Many of the major advances in cytokine biology were first reported at this annual conference, and we very much look forward to continuing this strong tradition this October. It is our hope that attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how cytokines network together to maintain health and gain an appreciation for the many potential strategies for targeting the network to create better drugs. The meeting will provide an outstanding forum for investigators in basic science and clinical research to present their most recent findings on the role of cytokines (including interferons, chemokines, and various pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory factors) in infection, cancer, allergy and autoimmunity, as well as in various other inflammatory and immune diseases. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for updates on the development of novel therapeutic interventions in these fields and help spur international collaborations among the meeting participants.

Due to the international travel restrictions to enter UK still in effect and the way the incidences of COVID are increasing, even in vaccinated individuals, ICIS has made the hard decision to pivot to a FULLY VIRTUAL Meeting.

We are fully committed to creating a virtual event up to the highest standards of science, education, and innovation. Building on the success from last year’s virtual meeting, we will ensure fruitful exchanges and presentations of original findings.

ICIS has already put in place a cutting-edge virtual meeting platform for our live and on demand streaming, iPoster presentations, virtual exhibitors and tournament.

We believe this decision will ensure safety of everyone and alleviate the stress related the uncertainties of travelling and in-person gathering.

We would like to wholeheartedly thank you for your confidence and support in these troubled times, and we are optimistic on the success of the 2021 Virtual Meeting, with a Welsh touch of course!

Best regards,

Professor Simon A Jones

The School of Medicine
Division of Infection & Immunity
Cardiff University
Cardiff, Wales, UK
JonesSA@cardiff.ac.uk

Yr Athro Simon A JonesMeddygaeth Prifysgol Caerdydd
Yr Isadran Haint ac Imiwnedd
Adeilad Tenovus
Parc y Mynydd Bychan
Caerdydd, Cymru, DU

Local Organizing Committee

  • Simon A Jones, (Chair) Cardiff University, Wales, UK
  • Clare Bryant, University of Cambridge, UK
  • Clare M. Lloyd, Imperial College, UK
  • Iain McInnes, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
  • Luke O’Neill, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

International Scientific Advisory Committee

Online, Interactive Program & Scheduler

  • Evangelos Andreakos, Laboratory of Immunobiology, Biomedical  Research Foundation, Academy of Athens, Greece
  • Yvonne Bordon, Nature Reviews Immunology, UK
  • Andrew Bowie, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
  • Ernest Choy, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
  • Marcus Feige, TUM, Germany
  • Kate Fitzgerald, University of Massachusetts, USA
  • Trude Flow, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
  • Brian Fritz, 10x Genomics, USA
  • Sarah Gaffen, University of Pittsburgh, USA
  • Christian Holm, Aarhus University, Denmark
  • Christopher Hunter, University of Pennsylvania, USA
  • Brendan Jenkins, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  • Gareth W. Jones, University of Bristol, UK
  • You-Me Kim, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea
  • Carolina LĂłpez, Washington University in Saint Louis, USA
  • Ignacio Moraga Gonzalez, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK
  • Sandra Nicholson, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  • Anne O’Garra, Crick Institute, UK
  • Stefan Rose-John, University of Kiel, Germany
  • Ram Savan, University of Washington, USA
  • James Turkson, Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, USA
  • Irina Udalova, University of Oxford, UK
  • Hiroki Yoshida, Saga University, Japan