In This Issue: 2019 Young Investigator Awardees pgs. 3-8 Italian COVID-19 Storms pg. 11 In Memorium pgs. 12-15 New Member Mini-Bios pgs. 17-19 Spotlight: Women in Science pgs. 21-23 Cytokines 2020 pgs. 24-27 Si g n THE INTERNATIONALa CYTOKINEl & INTERFERONs SOCIETY+­­­ NEWSLETTER APRIL 2020 I VOLUME 8 I NO. 1 A NOTE FROM THE ICIS PRESIDENT Kate Fitzgerald I write this note as all of us reach a new norm of working “remotely”. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to all members of the ICIS community around the globe who have stepped up to meet the unique and unforeseen challenges of this time. The precautions that have been implemented at all of our institutions and companies, in accordance with local and national public health guidance, will no doubt help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. We should remain firmly committed to physical distancing to make us all safer. We stand with our Italian, Spanish and New York colleagues in particular, who are facing very difficult times right now and hope things will improve there soon. It’s hard to understate the importance of the scientific enterprise and the work we as cytokine and interferon biologists do in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our past and current efforts to understand the host response to viruses and other pathogens and the importance of IFN and cytokines in controlling infection and the immune response to vaccines could not be more important than it is now. Understanding cytokine and interferon biology is fundamental to human health and disease. We hope the knowledge gained from all our efforts can be put to good use to stem the threat of Sars-CoV2. Beyond the current threat, it is also clear that cytokines and interferons function in disease initiation, development and progression allowing cytokine targeted therapies to come online for the benefit of patients afflicted with a myriad of infectious, inflammatory, autoimmune diseases as well as cancer. Cytokine and interferon biology continue to attract scientists including immunologists as well as those from numerous other research disciplines. As a society we serve as a forum to bring together all those interested in cytokine and IFN biology to advance human health. It is an honor and a pleasure to serve as the President of the ICIS for the next 2 years. I want to thank Nancy Reich for her service as President for the past two years and for guiding my transition into this role. I am excited to build on Nancy’s work as well as that of the past society presidents, David Wallach, Charles Samuel, Luke O’Neill, Richard Flavell and Tadatsugu Taniguchi who collectively established a strong foundation for this wonderful society. I also want to thank Christopher Hunter, President-Elect who has already been an active and willing participant in all of my efforts thus far. We are both so grateful for Joan Oefner, managing director of the society who we were fortunate to work with when we co-chaired the Boston meeting in 2018. Joan is phenomenal. She brings her energy, enthusiasm and drive to all that she does. I am particularly grateful for her ability to think 5 steps ahead and always see the bigger picture. To those of you who serve on all of our committees, I thank you for your service. I hope that as a team we can all build on the success of past leadership and enhance the impact of the society in the coming years. continued on pg 2 Future Cytokines 2021, Newsletter Editors: Meetings October 17 - 20, 2021 Howard Young Cardiff, Wales, UK Marta Catalfamo Cytokines 2020, Cytokines 2022, Di Yu / Zhian Chen November 1-4, 2020 September 20 - 23, 2022 Seattle, USA Big Island, Hawaii USA Managing Director: Joan Oefner The International Cytokine & Interferon Society Headquarters: [email protected] • TEL: 1-800-947-1960 • FAX: 1-201-322-1818 • www.cytokinesociety.org continued from pg 1 A major goal of the society is to broaden our reach internationally by encouraging our international colleagues to join the society and contribute to society efforts. In the coming years we have enlisted meeting organizers out to 2024 to hold our annual meeting across the globe. Next fall (fingers crossed) our annual meeting will be held in Seattle, Washington. Michael Gale, Ram Saven and colleagues have put together a spectacular program. Further, 2021, plans are well underway for Cardiff with Simon Jones leading the effort and future meetings being planned for Hawaii, Greece and Korea. I want to especially thank Brendan Jenkins who has done an outstanding job lining up meeting organizers and guiding meeting planning efforts. Brendan has kindly agreed to a second term leading the meetings committee which is a huge benefit to the society. The society will provide all the logistical needs of organizing future meetings through Joan Oefner and our agreement with MCI. This includes the meeting website, registration, coordination of hotels, convention centers, etc. This will free meeting organizers to focus on the scientific program. I encourage members to step-up and reach out to Brendan to discuss organizing future meetings. I also want to highlight our commitment as a society to diversity and in particular gender balance. It is important that meeting organizers, scientific programs and society committees are balanced both in terms of gender and geographical diversity. There is no shortage of outstanding colleagues across the globe that should be included on our rosters of meeting speakers and committees. I encourage any of you interested in participating on one of our committees and serving the society to reach out to me or Joan. I also want to alert our society members about our commitment to providing a family friendly environment at our annual meetings. Starting in Seattle, we will be providing complimentary childcare support to allow our fellow scientists with young children the opportunity to attend our meetings and social events. The final night Networking Dinner will also be family friendly at the Seattle Aquarium, a venue sure to delight all generations! It has always been the aim of the ICIS to keep dues low and make membership affordable for scientists at all levels, from graduate students to Full Professors. We strive to keep our management costs down so the Society can remain viable for many years to come. We also strive to raise funds to support travel awards allowing scientists from across the globe especially those from developing countries to attend our annual meetings. We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Milstein family who have supported our society for more than 30 years with the Milstein Awards. The coming years will be challenging for the society however, as support from the Milstein family is ending this year. We are so grateful for their support for the last 30 years and will be working hard to identify alternative donors who can support our annual awards and travel awards which we will continue to include in the meeting budgets. In this regard, the society has established a new Development committee jointly led by Simon Jones and Eleanor Fish, to help leverage our collective contacts to fill this void. In closing, I want to thank you for being a member of the ICIS and supporting our field. As a society, we have a lot to do. We will continue to voice your concerns, advocate for scientific research, advance the training of students and post-doctoral fellows, and sustain the progress of our field in this era of breathtaking opportunity. I look forward to seeing you all at our next annual meeting in Seattle where the program promises to not disappoint. With warmest regards to everyone, stay safe during these difficult times and be well. Kate SCIENCEQUOTES “ Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the “gates of the temple of science are written the words:” ‘Ye must have faith.’” Max Planck 2 APRIL 2020 I VOLUME 8 I NO. 1 I THE INTERNATIONAL CYTOKINE & INTERFERON SOCIETY NEWSLETTER I [email protected] I TEL: 1-800-947-1960 I FAX: 1-201-322-1818 I www.cytokinesociety.org 2019 THE MILSTEIN YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARDEES Every year up to five awards are granted to individuals who have made notable contributions to either basic or clinical research. This award is provided by a generous gift of the Milstein Family. JUAN FUXMAN SARAH DOYLE, BASS, Ph.D. Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology Assistant Professor in Immunology Boston University, Boston, USA Dept. Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, JF Coordinator for BSc in Human Health and Disease, Dr. Fuxman Bass is an Assistant Professor in the Biology TBSI, Head of Immunobiology Research Group, Trinity Department at Boston University. His overarching scientific goals College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN), Trinity are to elucidate the underlying principles governing cytokine regulation. In particular, his lab focuses on delineating the College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland gene regulatory networks involved in cytokine transcription and identifying novel transcription factors involved in this process by Dr. Doyle’s research lab is focused on the impact of signalling integrating multiple omics approaches. In addition, his lab studies downstream of the innate immune Toll/IL-1 Receptor (TIR)-super the role of virally-encoded transcription factors in modulating family in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and the initiation gene expression as a mechanism of viral immune evasion. His of pathology. This family recognizes and responds to host derived work has been funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and by the danger signals and includes the IL-1 family cytokine receptors National Institutes of Health through the K99/R00, R35, and U01 IL-1R and IL-18R.