The Immunology of Ageing - 24th February 2014

It is clear that the immune system undergoes age-associated alterations, producing a progressive deterioration in the ability to respond to infections and to develop immunity after vaccination. This event will discuss this Immunosenescence, both within the innate and adaptive immune systems. While discussing the mechanisms that contribute to immunosenescence, there will be plenty of networking opportunities and also debate relating to potential therapies that could be employed to help the population live longer, fuller and healthier lives. This event has CPD accreditation. This event is part of the 2014 Ageing Summit:

www.AgeingSummit2014.com

Meeting Chairs:

Dr Neil A Mabbott, The Roslin Institute& Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Dr Milica Vukmanovic-Stejic, Senior Research Fellow, UCL Medical School, London, UK

Who Should Attend:

Biotech and Pharma Industry: CEOs, Chief Scientists, Group Heads, Senior and Junior Scientists, Research Managers
Academic and Research Institutes: Group and Lab Heads, Postdoctoral Scientists and Research Students

The deadline for abstract submissions for oral presentation is November 10th 2013.
Abstracts for poster presentation only can be submitted up to two weeks before the event. You can download the instructions for authors at www.euroscicon.com/AbstractsForOralAndPosterPresentation.pdf

Talk times include 5 – 10 minutes for questions

9:00 – 9:45 Registration

9:45 – 9:50 Introduction by the Chairs:

Dr Neil A Mabbott, The Roslin Institute& Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Dr Milica Vukmanovic-Stejic, Senior Research Fellow, UCL Medical School, London, UK

9:50 – 10:20 Old B cells, what are the chances they will help us?

Dr Deborah Dunn-Walters, Reader in Immunology, Department of Immunobiology, King’s College London School of Medicine, UK

A diverse B cell repertoire is essential in order to increase the chances of being able to recognise foreign antigen. At the same time the repertoire has to avoid carrying specificities for self antigens. Older people are more prone to infection, less able to respond well to vaccine and generally have more autoantibodies in their blood. We will discuss this in the context of our findings on B cell repertoire changes with age, and different types of B cells that respond to different types of antigen challenge.

10:20 – 10:50 Talk title to be confirmed

Dr Neil A Mabbott, The Roslin Institute& Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Sciences University of Edinburgh, Scotland

10:50 – 11:20 Talk title to be confirmed

Professor Jacek Witkowski, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland

11:20 – 11:50 Speakers’ photo then mid-morning break and poster exhibition and trade show

11:50 – 12:20 Para-inflammation and Age-related Macular Degeneration

Dr Heping Xu, Centre for Vision and Vascular Science (CVVS) Queen’s University Belfast Institute of Clinical Science, Ireland

Para-inflammation is an immune response to chronic noxious stimuli at a low magnitude that lies between the basal homeostatic state and overt inflammation. The physiological role is to maintain tissue homeostasis and functionality. Dysregulation in the para-inflammatory response underlies many chronic diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and various age-related degenerative disorders. The nature of retinal para-inflammation under normal ageing conditions and the role of dysregulated or maladapted para-inflammatory response in age-related macular degeneration will be discussed.

12:20 – 12:50 Oral Presentations

12:50 – 13:45 Lunch, poster exhibition and trade show

13:45 – 14:30 Question and Answer Session

14:30 – 15:00 Ageing of the immune system – Role of CMV for Coronary Heart Disease

Professor Ioakim Spyridopoulos, Chair of Cardiovascular Gerontology, Hon. Consultant Interventional Cardiology, Newcastle University and Freeman Hospital, UK

While human cytomegalovirus (CMV), a herpesvirus that is never cleared from individuals following primary infection, is deemed harmless in immunocompetent people, there is mounting evidence that it adversely affects human lifespan linked to a higher incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in seropositive individuals. This talk will look into the potential link between an ageing immune system, cytomegalovirus infection and progression of atherosclerosis. It will attempt to link cellular changes in the CD8 T cell compartment secondary to CMV, telomere biology and inflammation with the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease.

15:00 – 15:30 Afternoon Tea, last poster session and trade show

15:30 – 16:00 Old before our time? Cytomegalovirus establishes the rudimentary signs of an ageing immune system even in young and healthy adults.

Dr James Turner, Lecturer, Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK.

Ageing is associated with a decline in immune competence termed immunosenescence. In the elderly, this process has been associated with increased susceptibility to infection, accelerated cognitive decline, frailty and increased mortality. It has become clear that many features of an ageing immune system are determined by Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Until recently, it remained largely unexplored whether CMV drives immunity towards a senescent profile in young and healthy adults. In this talk I will present the results of a recent investigation, whereby several hallmarks of immunosenescence were assessed in a chronologically young population of healthy university students.

16:00 – 16:30 Talk title to be confirmed

Professor Elissaveta Naumova, Head, Department of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Alexandrovska, Bulgaria

16:30 - 17:00 Talk title to be confirmed

Dr Irene Maeve Rea, Senior Lecturer and Consultant Physician Geriatric Medicine, Queens University Belfast, Ireland

17:00 Chairman’s Summing Up and Close of Meeting

Registration Website: https://www.regonline.co.uk/AgeingImm2014

About the Speakers

Deborah Dunn-Walters is Reader in Immunology at King’s College London, with extensive experience in B cell repertoire analysis, and molecular events involving the immunoglobulin gene during B cell development. She combines traditional molecular biology techniques with novel mathematical analyses to devise new ways of investigating the humoral immune system. She is particularly interested in research that aims to improve the health of older people.

Heping Xu graduated in medicine from Hengyang Medical College, China in 1987. He completed his ophthalmology training in XiangYa Hospital and obtained his PhD in vision science from Hunan Medical University in 1994. He carried out his post-doc training, first in cell biology in Japan (1997-2000), and then in ocular immunology at the University of Aberdeen (2000-2004). Dr Xu was awarded a Research Council UK (RCUK) fellowship in 2005, and was promoted to Senior RCUK fellow in 2008. Dr Xu moved to the Centre for Vision and Vascular Science, Queen’s University Belfast in 2009 as a Senior Lecturer, and was promoted to Reader in 2011. Dr Xu’s research is centred on the immunopathogenesis of sight-threatening retinal diseases, including uveoretinitis, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Ioakim Spyridopoulos has received his Medical degree in 1992 at the University of Hannover, Germany. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at TUFTS University in Boston/MA from 1995-1997. Further research stays at Tübingen University and Frankfurt University have added to his work on atherosclerosis research. Following his appointment as Hon. Consultant in Interventional Cardiology at the Freeman Hospital at Newcastle Upon Tyne Trust in 2008 he was also appointed Chair of Cardiovascular Gerontology with Newcastle University. His main research field is “Inflammaging” in cardiovascular system, especially in the context of coronary heart disease. He is supported by the British Heart Foundation and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

James Turner undertook a PhD between 2007-2010 at the University of Birmingham. His thesis covered topics including immunosenescence, oxidative stress and exercise. James remained in Birmingham to undertake two post-doctoral research positions; first between 2011-2012, characterising T cell responses to novel leukaemia antigens, and second, from 2012-present, conducting research towards producing a prophylactic Epstein-Barr Virus vaccine. From September 2013, James became employed as a Lecturer in the Department for Health at The University of Bath, where he will lead a programme of research that spans the domains of physical activity, immune competence, and ageing.

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