Preliminary Program

International Conference on Regulatory T Cells and Clinical Application in Human Disease

October 25-27, 2008, Beijing, China

Conference Website:

Conference Venue: Beijing Friendship Hotel (a five-star garden hotel)

Friday, October 24, 2008

9:00 - 18:00 PMRegistration

Saturday, October 25, 2008

8:00 – 8:30 AMOpening Ceremony

8:30 – 9:30 AMKeynote Lecture

Chair: Ethan Shevach, National Institutes of Health, USA

Shimon Sakaguchi, Kyoto University, Japan

Regulatory T cells for immune tolerance and homeostasis

9:30 – 9:50 AMCoffee Break

9:50 – 12:30 AMPlenary Session 1: Development and Molecular Control of Regulatory T Cells

Chairs: Alexander Rudensky (USA), Yong-Jun Liu (USA)

9:50 – 10:15 AMAlexander Rudensky, University of Washington, USA

Determinants of regulatory T cell development and function

10:15 – 10:40 AMLudger Klein, University of Munich, Germany

Intrathymic development of natural regulatory T cells

10:40 – 11:05AMYong-Jun Liu, Anderson Cancer Center, USA

Foxp3+ regulatory T cell subsets: from the thymus to the periphery

11:05 – 11:30 PMThomas Malek, University of Miami, USA

Regulatory T cell development and specificity in control of autoimmunity

11:30 - 11:45 AM Short Talk: Yun-Cai Liu, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, USA

The E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch regulates Foxp3 expression and airway inflammation

11:45 –12:30 PMShort Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

12:30 - 14:00 PMBuffet Lunch and Poster Viewing

14:00 - 16:00 PMPlenary Session 2: Induction of Regulatory T Cells

Chairs: Xuetao Cao (China), Jingwu Zang (China)

14:00 – 14:25 PM Xuetao Cao, Second Military Medical University, China

Induction of regulatory T cells by regulatory antigen-presenting cells

14:25 – 14:50 PM Jingwu Zang, GSK R&D China

Therapeutic induction of regulatory T cells in autoimmune disease

14:50 – 15:15 PM Yasmine Belkaid, National Institutes of Health, USA

Induction and control of Tregs during infection

15:15 – 15:30 PM Short Talk: Stefan Beissert, University of Muenster, Germany

UV-induced regulatory T cells: phenotype and function

15:30 – 16:00 PM Short Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

16:00 – 16:30 PMCoffee Break

16:30 – 18:30 PMPlenary Session 3: Dynamics and Stability of Regulatory T Cells in Regulation

Chairs: Harald von Boehmer (USA) and Jeffrey Bluestone (USA)

16:30 – 16:55 PM Harald von Boehmer, Harvard University, USA

Peripherally converted Treg: mode, stability and role in specific tolerance

16:55 – 17:20 PM Richard Flavell, Yale University, USA

Tregs and Th17 cell dynamics

17:20 – 17:45 PM Jeffrey Bluestone, University of California at San Francisco, USA

Stability of Tregs critical in control of autoimmunity

17:45 – 18:00 PMShort Talk: Alf Hamann, Charite, Berlin, Germany

Epigenetic regulation of Foxp3 and Treg stability

18:00 – 18:15 PMShort Talk: Xian C. Li, Harvard University, USA

Reprograming of Foxp3+ Tregs by OX40

18:00 – 18:30 PMShort Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

19:00 – 22:00 PMWelcome Wine Reception and Poster Viewing

Sunday, October 26, 2008

8:00 – 10:30 AMPlenary Session 4: Mechanism of Suppression and Molecular Signaling of Regulatory T Cells

Chairs: Ethan Shevach (USA) and Wanjun Chen (USA)

8:00 – 8:25 AMEthan Shevach, National Institutes of Health, USA

What Do Treg See and Do?

8:25 – 8:50 AMWanjun Chen, National Institutes of Health, USA

TGF- control of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells: regulating the regulator

8:50 – 9:15 AM Megan Levings, University of British Columbia, Canada

Molecular regulation of human T regulatory cells

9:15 – 9:40 AM Yang-Xin Fu, University of Chicago, USA

The role of negative signaling in early infection

9:40 – 9:55 AM Short Talk: Bin Li, University of Pennsylvania, USA

FoxP3 biochemistry in regulatory T cells--how diverse signals regulate suppression

9:55 – 10:10 AM Short Talk: Yisong Wan, University of North Carolina, USA

A critical and specific role for Brg in regulating Treg function

10:10 – 10:40 AM Short Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

10:40 – 11:00 AMCoffee Break

11:00 – 12:30 PMPlenary Session 5: Diversity of Regulatory T Cells

Chairs: Maria Grazia Roncarolo (Italy) and Wei He (China)

11:00 – 11:25 AM Maria Grazia Roncarolo, San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, Italy

Natural and inducible regulatory T cells in humans

11:25 – 11:50 AM Terry Delovitch, Robarts Research Institute, Canada

Extent of Treg-iNKT cell cooperation for protection from type 1 diabetes varies between treatment with Th2-biased and -unbiased glycolipid antigents

11:50 – 12:15 PM Vipin Kumar, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, USA

Regulatory CD8aa+ T cells

12:15 –12:40 PM Li Zhang, University of Toronto, Canada

Double Negative Regulatory T cells - Non-conventional Regulators

12:40 – 13:00 PM Wei He, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China

 T cells in immunoregulation

13:00 – 13:15 PMShort Talk to Chosen from Abstracts

13:15 – 14:30 PMBuffet Lunch and Poster Viewing

14:30 – 16:00 PMPlenary Short Talk Session 1: Tregs: Basic Sciences

Chairs: Richard Flavell (USA) and Li Zhang (Canada)

Nine Short Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

16:00 – 16:30 PMCoffee Break

16:30 – 18:00 PMPlenary Short Talk Session 2: Tregs: Clinical Application

Chairs: Fiona Powrie (UK) and Terry Delovitch (Canada)

Nine Short Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

18:00 – 18:40 PMSpecial Session: Senior Editors from Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology and Nature Review Immunology address conference audience their editorial policies and process

Monday, October 27, 2008

8:00 – 10:30 AMPlenary Session 6: Tregs, Teff and Autoimmune Disease

Chairs: C Garrison Fathman (USA) and David Hafler (USA)

8:00 – 8:25 AM C Garrison Fathman, Stanford University, USA

Treg and Teff interactions result in anergy in the regulated

cells

8:25 – 8:50 AMDavid Hafler, Harvard University, USA

The Balance of Human CD4+CD25high Regulatory T cells and Th17 Effector Cells

8:50 – 9:15 AM Stephen Miller, Northwestern University, USA

A Role for Tregs in controlling susceptibility/resistance and tolerance in immune-mediated demyelinating diseases

9:15 – 9:40 AM Ciriaco Piccirillo, McGill University, Canada

Functional dynamics of CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in organ-specific autoimmunity: In vivo veritas

9:40 – 10:25 AM Short Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

10:25 –10:50 AMCoffee Break

10:50 – 12:35 PMPlenary Session 7: Regulatory T cells in Infection and Cancer

Chairs: Weiping Zou (USA), Tyler J Curiel (USA)

10:50 – 11:15 AM Kingston G. Mills, Trinity College, Ireland

Manipulating Treg cell induction by modulating dendritic cell activation in the development of therapies for cancer and autoimmunity

11:15 – 11:40 AM Weiping Zou, University of Michigan, USA

Regulatory T cells in the tumor microenvironment

11:40 – 12:00 PM Tyler J Curiel, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, USA

Managing regulatory T cells as a novel cancer treatment strategy

12:00 – 12: 15 PMFu-Sheng Wang, Beijing Institute of Infectious Diseases, China

Regulatory T cells in hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma

12:15 - 12:30 PMShort Talk to be Chosen from Abstracts

12:40 – 14:00 PMBuffet Lunch and Poster Viewing

14:00 – 16:05 PM Plenary Session 8: Regulatory T Cells in Transplantation Tolerance

Chairs: Herman Waldmann (UK) and Kathryn Wood (UK)

14:00 – 14:25 PM Herman Waldmann, University of Oxford, UK

Explaining Infectious Tolerance

14:25 – 14:50 PM Kathryn Wood, University of Oxford, UK

Title to be announced

14:50 – 15:15PM Joost van Meerwijk, INSERM, France

Prevention of acute and chronic allograft rejection with CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+) regulatory T lymphocytes

15:15 – 15:40 PMHans-Dieter Volk, Charite, Humboldt University, Germany

Regulatory T cell therapy based on biomarker analysis – from animal models to clinical application?

15:40 – 16:10 PM Short Talks to be Chosen from Abstracts

16:10 – 16:30 PMCoffee Break

16:30 – 18:15 PMPlenary Session 9: Regulatory T Cells in Regional and Airway Inflammation

Chairs: Fiona Powrie (UK), Dale Umetsu (USA)

16:30 – 16:55 PM Fiona Powrie, University of Oxford, UK

Regulatory T cells in intestinal homeostasis

16:55 – 17:20 PM Dale Umetsu, Harvard University, USA

The regulatory role of natural killer T cells in the airways

17:25 – 17:45 PM Catherine Hawrylowicz, King's College London, UK

Regulatory T cells in allergy and asthma: does the vitamin D pathway play a role?

17:45 – 18:15 PMShort Talks to Be Chosen from Abstracts

18:15 – 19:30 PMPlenary Session 10: Clinical Trials of Regulatory T Cells in Stem Cell Transplantation

Chairs: Bruce Blazar (USA)

18:15 – 18:40 PM Bruce Blazar, University of Minnesota, USA

Application of Tregs in bone marrow transplantation

18:40 – 19:05 PM Matthias Edinger, University Regensbury, Germany;

Regulatory T cells in allogeneic stem cell transplantation

19:05 – 19:20 PMShort Talk to be Chosen from Abstracts

20:00 PM –Gala Dinner

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Complimentary Tour of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City

1