Download Invitation Letter

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
Semmelweis Symposium:
Inflammatory mechanisms in atherosclerosis - A critical
appraisal
http://www.diamond-congress.hu/symp2005/
To be held in Budapest,
November 3-4, 2005
Invitation
Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease with multifactorial etiology. In the last years a
large body of evidence accumulated supporting this statement. More and more information
indicates that inflammatory reactions are present from the very early stages of atherosclerosis
till the rupture of a plaque. This process is influenced by several environmental (infections,
smoking, etc.) and genetic factors. However, there are quite a lot of open questions or
unconvinced points in this large and complex picture, such us the trigger of inflammation in
the vessel wall, the role of infections in the development of atherosclerosis, interactions
between risk factors and inflammation, and whether inflammatory mediators (i.e. C-reactive
protein, complement, etc.) are passive markers or active participants in the immunoinflammatory mechanisms in atherogenesis.
Although the inflammatory nature of atherosclerosis is getting broadly accepted in the general
scientific community, there is a room for discussion on specific topics in this area. We plan to
organize a scientific symposium to provide a possibility for this discussion on the above. The
aim of the meeting would be to highlight up-to-date information and to put leading
researchers of the area in touch with each other and generate fruitful discussion on open or
controversial topics.
Here, we would like to invite immunologists, clinicians and researchers and students for the
upcoming Semmelweis Symposium to be held in Budapest between 3-4th of November, 2005.
The title of the symposium is: Semmelweis Symposium: Inflammatory mechanisms in
atherosclerosis - A critical appraisal. The Semmelweis Symposium is an annual international
activity at the Semmelweis University. In 2005 the topic of the symposium will be focused on
the role of inflammation in atherosclerosis. The symposium will be supported by EC
supported “ATHERNET” project (www.athernet.hu). The following organizations will also
support the conference: Hungarian Society for Immunology, Hungarian Society for
Atherosclerosis.
Updated information on the Symposium is available at:
http://www.diamond-congress.hu/symp2005/
There will be a limited (invitation-based) number of oral presentations; you have the
opportunity to present your results as free poster. Four abstracts will be selected for shorttalks (1/topic).
There is early registration and abstract submission, with the deadline of June, 1. Abstracts
submitted till this deadline will be published in official congress issue of Molecular
Immunology. Late submission and registration will be possible till 30th of September, these
abstracts will be printed only in the program book of the conference.
The tentative topics of the Symposium are:
Role of inflammation in atherosclerosis
Role of infection and autoimmunity in atherosclerosis
Role of genetic factors behind inflammatory mechanisms in atherosclerosis
Role of innate immunity in atherogenesis
Confirmed invited speakers are:
Gérard Arlaud (Grenoble):
Modified low density lipoproteins differentially bind and activate the C1 complex of
complement
Sucharit Bhakdi (Mainz): Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis: the Mainz hypothesis
Stefan Blankenberg (Mainz): Inflammation and atherosclerosis: The role of genetic
diversity and intermediate phenotpyes
Michael Carrol (Boston):
Innate Autoimmunity: Inflammatory response against stress induced self-ligands
Mohamed R. Daha (Leiden):
Role of complement in inflammation processes.
Gordon Duff (Sheffield):
Genetic variation at the Interleukin-1 locus as a risk factor for atherosclerosis and clinical
events
George Füst (Budapest):
Immunogenetic factors in atherosclerosis
Peter Garred (Copenhagen): Title pending
Vilmundur Guðnason (Rejkyavik): Inflammatory markers in the prospective Reykjavik study
Mikko Hurme (Tampere):
Genetic control of inflammatory cell/T cell interactions
Graham A. Pockley (Sheffield):
Circulating heat shock proteins and atherosclerosis
Zoltán Prohászka (Budapest):
Regulation of anti-heat shock protein antibody levels in health and disease
Gerd Schmitz (Regensburg): Genetic factors affecting macrophage function in
atherosclerosis
Georg Wick (Innsbruck): Atherosclerosis: Avoid stress now-worry about cholesterol later
Scientific Advisory Board:
Gérard Arlaud (Grenoble)
Mohamed R. Daha (Leiden)
George Füst (Budapest)
Peter Garred (Copenhagen)
Mikko Hurme (Tampere)
Zoltán Prohászka (Budapest)
Mahavir Singh (Braunschweig)
Organizing Committee
László Cervenák (secretary)
Imre Kacskovics
István Karádi
György Parragh
Zoltán Prohászka (chairman)
László Romics
Lajos Szollár
Lilian Varga
Congress venue:
Thermal Hotel Helia****, Budapest
http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/budapest_hotels/budapest_helia_hotel.htm
Conference Secretariat:
Diamond Congress Ltd.
H-1027 Budapest, Fõ u. 68, Hungary
Phones: +36 1 214-7701, 214-7698, 225-0210
Fax: + 36 1 201-2680
E-mail: [email protected]
www.diamond-congress.hu
Scientific correspondence:
Zoltán Prohászka, MD, PhD
Chair of the Conference
IIIrd Department of Medicine, Semmelweis University
H-1125 Budapest, Kutvölgyi st. 4.
Tel.: +361-2129351/+361-3551122/379
FAX: +361-2129351
e-mail: [email protected]
We guarantee you special Hungarian hospitality and friendly milieu during the meeting. The
scientific value of our symposium is based on the contribution of invited speakers and their
high quality research work together with the discussion of the posters. We hope that you find
the program of the Symposium interesting and we will be able to welcome you in November
in Budapest!
Yours, with best regards
Zoltán Prohászka
Budapest, 2005-02-18