Conference Recap: Immuno-Metabolic Mechanisms of Atherosclerosis Conference, Mexico 2017

By: Gemma

The meeting was chaired by Ziad Mallat (Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK) and Christoph Binder (Professor of Atherosclerosis Research, Medical University of Vienna, Austria).

Faculty included 3 plenary speakers: Joseph Witztum (UCSD, San Diego), Peter Libby (Harvard Medical School), Goran Hansson (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm), and 22 speakers (including the Chair and Co-Chair): Ajay Chawla (UCSF, San Francisco), Andreas Habenicht (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich), Caetano Reis e Sousa (Francis Crick Institute, London), Cecile Benezech (University of Edinburgh), Christopher Glass (UCSD, San Diego), Claudia Kemper (King’s College, London), Edward A. Fisher (NYU School of Medicine), Eicke Latz (University of Bonn), Filip Swirski (Harvard Medical School), Gary Owens (University of Virginia), Guo-Ping Shi (Harvard University), Hanjoong Jo (Emory University), Ira Tabas (Columbia University, New York), Kathryn J Moore (New York University Medical Centre), Laurent Yvan-Charvet (Inserm, Nice), Manolis Pasparakis (University of Cologne), Mark Febbraio (Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Sydney), Matthew Spite (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School), Michael Sieweke (Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille Luminy), and Venizelos Papayannopoulos (Francis Crick Institute, London)

The meeting was unique in assembling world-leading experts from diverse disciplines, within and outside the field of atherosclerosis. The meeting highlighted several exciting areas at the interface of immunity and metabolism in the context of atherosclerosis: 1) Vascular Cell Activation and Dysfunction, 2) Monocytes/macrophages and lipid handling in health and disease, 3) Innate immunity, NETosis, necroptosis, inflammasome, 4) T and B Cell Immune Responses in atherosclerosis, 5) Adipose Tissue Inflammation, Microbiome and Atherosclerosis, 6) Immunometabolism, and 7) Resolution of Inflammation and Immuno-metabolic therapies.

Attendees listened to and interacted with the finest minds in those fields of research, which led to fruitful discussions and interrogation of new ideas and concepts between established and young investigators and trainees, and cross-fertilization among scientists from a variety of backgrounds.

All speakers and attendees were very pleased with the high quality of the science and the professional organisation led by Fusion Conferences, and we received a lot of positive feedback:

"I wanted to express my deep appreciation for the invitation to present our work in the Fusion Conference in Cancun.  It was one of the best meetings that I attended and I learned a lot, especially immunology and metabolism in atherosclerosis. I got a few really interesting ideas that I am going to test in my lab very soon.  The venue was fantastic and highly conducive to making new connections to the leaders in the field”.

"Just a note to thank you for the truly outstanding meeting.  You really did a marvellous job in bringing together many experts in our field, but also experts in novel areas that were most revealing. I know how difficult it is to put together such meetings and I know how hard you worked on this…”

We hope that this meeting will become a significant series of symposia within the atherosclerosis community.

The 2nd Immuno-Metabolic Mechanisms of Atherosclerosis Conference will take place from 01 - 04 March 2020 in the beautiful Melia Nassau, Bahamas - visit the webpage