2021 CCIV Symposium Recap
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As in 2020, our symposium this year was virtual. While we missed the in-person interactions, the event was a great success. The virtual symposium drew over 130 registrants, 93 attendees, 2 keynote speakers, and 5 internal speakers. Thank you to all who participated in this year’s symposium!
Our keynote speakers included Dr. Marina Caskey from The Rockefeller University (top left) and Dr. Alessandro Sette from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (top right).
Dr. Caskey’s keynote was titled “Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies for HIV Prevention Therapy and Cure.” Much of Dr. Caskey’s research focuses on the development and clinical evaluation of novel immunotherapeutic strategies for HIV. Her talk in November covered a range of new HIV cure strategies that use bNabs to target, control, or eliminate viral reservoirs.
Over the last 35 years, Dr. Sette worked to understand the immune response and develop disease intervention, with a recent focus on SARS-CoV-2. His talk, titled “Definition of Adaptive Responses to SARS-CoV-2 and Its Variants,” reviewed some of his lab’s major findings over the course of the pandemic, including the impact such findings had on the federal response. Dr. Sette also indicated some of his lab’s new work on SARS-CoV-2 variants and how their mutations affect spread, vaccine efficacy, and treatment strategies.
In between each keynote speaker, the symposium featured five internal speakers. Drs. Greg Melikian and Lisa Cranmer each gave short talks on their HIV-related work, while Dr. Satoshi Kamidani spoke about his recent research on influenza-associated hospitalizations. Finally, Drs. Anne Piantadosi and Jens Wrammert presented their recent findings on SARS-CoV-2, with the former focusing on variants and the latter on vaccines. §