Announcement:

2nd Annual INIP Biodefense Workshop 2005 Program:

Title: Neural & Neuroendocrine Host Factors in Shock and Immune Tissue Damage: Implications for Biodefense Treatment Strategies.
Date: Monday Jan 31, 2005
Location: NIH Bldg 31 6th Floor, Rm. 10, Bethesda MD

Goal: To explore the role of neural and endocrine host responses in shock and immune mediated tissue damage, and identify potential novel treatment strategies for biodefense based on molecular, cellular and systems interactions of these responses.

Workshop description: The goal of the Workshop is to identify potential new therapeutic targets for shock and tissue damage that could be relevant to biodefense. The workshop is the 2nd Annual Workshop on this topic sponsored by the Integrative Neural Immune Program, NIMH/NIH. Following on the 2004 Workshop that focused on the neuroendocrine stress response, the vagal inflammatory reflex, adenosine and cannabinoids in shock and tissue damage, the current workshop will further explore neural and endocrine factors that play a role in shock and tissue damage. These include the sympathetic nervous system/catecholamines; intracellular and molecular stress mediators (heat shock proteins) and their CNS regulation; estrogens and sex hormones; and interactions between these host defense factors. The one-day program will begin with a review of general principles of inflammation and innate immunity and describe clinical characteristics of shock conditions. Subsequent sessions will address specific advances in neural and neuroendocrine host responses that play a role in regulating immune responses. A round table panel discussion in the afternoon session of the workshop will explore the implications of these response mechanisms for development of novel approaches to the treatment of toxic and septic exposures in biodefense. The workshop will also tie these factors together with those explored in depth in the 1st Annual Workshop (glucocorticoids, HPA axis, cholinergic/vagal system, adenosine, endocannabinoids) and will introduce methods and models in which to study complex interactions between these systems in the context of shock and tissue damage with particular reference to biodefense treatment strategies.

Honorary Chair: Anthony Fauci, Director, NIAID
Honorary Host: Tom Insel, Director, NIMH
Program Chair: Esther Sternberg M.D., Director Integrative Neural Immune Program, NIMH/NIH

Program Committee Members:
Esther Sternberg (NIMH/INIP)
George Kunos (Scientific Director, NIAAA)
Michail Sitkovsky (Northeastern University, Boston MA)
Arthur Friedlander (USAMRIID)
Kevin Tracey (LIJ Research Institute, NY)
Geoffrey Ling (DARPA)
David Winter (NIAID)

BIODEFENSE PROGRAM AGENDA (in pdf form)

Announcement:

Neuroendocrine and Neuroimmunological Factors in Shock and Tissue Damage: Implications for Biodefense Treatment Strategies.

Date: Monday January 12, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Location :National Institutes of Health, Bldg 31, Conference Rm. 10

The workshop was a one-day program covering general principles of neural and neuroendocrine factors in infectious and inflammatory disease, basic mechanisms of tissue damage in sepsis, and implications of breakthroughs in understanding these mechanisms for novel approaches to the treatment of toxic and septic exposures in biodefense. The workshop's opening session provided an overview of these concepts. In subsequent scientific sessions, researchers presented new findings suggesting potential new treatment strategies for shock and tissue damage. The scientific presentation sessions were followed by a round-table discussion that explored translational and therapeutic implications of these basic research findings. The goal of the roundtable discussion was to develop proposals for translation of basic research findings into the development of new therapeutic and public health intervention strategies. Workshop/round table participants included invited speakers and representatives from NIMH, NIAID, NINDS, NIAAA, and other NIH Institutes. Speakers included: Thomas Insel, Director NIMH; Anthony Fauci, Director NIAID; Charles Hackett, NIAID; Michail Sitkovsky, NIAID; Esther M. Sternberg, NIMH; Cox Texhorst, Harvard Medical School; Joel Linden, University of Virginia; Mahtab Moayer, NIAID; Jane Welsh, Texas A&M University; Jeanette Webster, NIMH; George Kunos, Scientific Director NIAAA; Kevin Tracey, North Shore-LIJ Research Institute; Richard Johnson, Johns Hopkins University; and Audrey Penn, Deputy Director NINDS.