Professor Jim Heath
Professor of Chemistry
California Institute of Technology, USA

Professor Bernd Bodenmiller
Assistant Professor, IMLS
University of Zurich, Switzerland

Dr Wilco de Jager

UMC Utrecht, Netherlands

The human immune system is highly complex. Each individual has a unique and randomly generated immune repertoire, and this heterogeneity provides versatility, but also constitutes a major challenge for its study.

Researchers are increasingly turning to systems approaches to dissect this complexity, and technologies are being developed that are able to detect multiple cells, cytokines and receptors. Rapid progress over the past 5 years has seen the introduction of multiplex immunoassays that detect multiple analytes simultaneously, mass cytometry and microfluidic functional proteomic approaches. These technologies are changing the field of human immunology, and will ultimately aid clinical developments such as generation of therapeutic antibodies and vaccines.

Speaker presentations:

Single cell functional proteomics for human health applications
Professor Jim Heath, California Institute of Technology, USA

Mass cytometry to comprehensively study single cell signaling in biology and disease
Professor Bernd Bodenmiller, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Cytokine multiplex immunoassays; methodology and clinical applications
Dr Wilco de Jager, UMC Utrecht, Netherlands