From Molecular Mechanisms of Chemokine Biology and Pathophysiology to Progress and Challenges in the Development of Therapeutics

Chemokines were first identified as small soluble proteins that orchestrate leukocyte migration during immune surveillance, inflammation and wound repair. However it is now well known that they do much more, and also control cell migration in the context of many developmental processes such as lymphopoiesis, cardiogenesis and development in the CNS. As a consequence they attract interest from researchers from diverse areas of study including immunology, developmental biology, and neurobiology. Because of the importance of chemokines to the immune system and host defense, many viruses have developed mechanisms to exploit or hijack the chemokine system; thus chemokines have attracted the interest of virologists. Moreover, they are involved in numerous inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases and asthma, in addition to many other therapeutic areas. In 1996, two chemokine receptors were discovered to be the coreceptors that facilitate the entry of HIV into cells. In 2001, the connection between chemokines and cancer metastasis was established. Because of their unusually broad clinical significance, they are studied not only by basic research scientists but also by clinical scientists and researchers in the pharmaceutical industry. Thus the 2016 Chemotactic Cytokines Gordon Research Conference (GRC) will draw scientists from a variety of disciplines and as implied in the subtitle, will feature studies involving basic mechanisms of chemokine biology and pathophysiology, to progress and challenges in the development of new drugs and disease treatments. The 2014 meeting was held in West Dover Vermont, and based on a unanimous decision to alternate every other conference between Europe and the US, the 2016 GRC will take place 5/29/2016 - 6/3/2016 at the PGA Catalunya Business and Convention Centre near Girona, Spain, which should be a fantastic site with many options for tours and activities during free time.

To ensure that the GRC captures the most recent breakthroughs in chemokine research, 24 speaking slots for "short talks" have been reserved for late breaking presentations selected from abstracts to complement the 29 "long talks" from invited speakers. To educate, integrate, empower and give visibility to the next generation of chemokine scientists, the Chemotactic Cytokine GRC will also be linked for the third time with a satellite Gordon Research Seminar (GRS): Emerging Concepts in Chemokine Biology, which will take place during the 1.5 days immediately preceding the GRC. In summary, we plan to bring together the most passionate and engaged researchers in the field working in different biomedical disciplines and disease areas, coming from different countries and representing different age and experience groups. The focus of this conference will be to advance our understanding of the mechanistic functions of chemokines and their role in human disease, and to provide a forum for novel uncharted aspects of chemokine research to be presented, discussed and assessed, and to seed ideas that will lead to clinical breakthroughs.

We look forward to seeing you in Spain in May 2016 and hope that the combination of cutting edge science, friendly scientific debate and the relaxing atmosphere of the site will be conducive to a hugely successful meeting. Apply early as we expect the meeting to be oversubscribed!

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Tracy Handel and Reinhold Forster