Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the organizing committee, I am pleased to announce that 2011 The Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Immunology (JSI) will be held in Makuhari Messe, Chiba, from November 27 to 29, 2011. There was the 14th International Congress of Immunology which was held in Kobe last year, thus the annual meeting will take place after an interval of two years. As past meetings we intend this meeting to be accessible to a broad range of people, where both researchers in the forefront and students can meet together.

In recent immunological study, while interaction between innate and acquired immunity and its regulation mechanism become clearer, new approaches are actively developed toward treatments for infectious diseases, allergy, autoimmune diseases, etc. In addition, improvement in imaging technology has dramatically brought more understanding about immune responses at the whole-body level. In view of the circumstances, international symposia in this meeting are intended to address the issues on the generation and maintenance of the immunological memory, the innate immune system and diseases, controlling the dynamics of lymphocytes and imaging, applied approaches to autoimmune diseases, and new immunotherapy for cancer, etc. Review talks will be set up in concert with the symposia, where a chair of the symposia will make a review in Japanese beforehand to help understand the contents of following lectures. The symposia, containing also late breaking talks, will encompass a variety of hot topics.

The scientific program also includes a number of seminars in related fields, technical seminars and clinical seminars at lunch time to respond diverse interests of participants, as well as programs designed to help understanding of cutting-edge research knowledge in both basic and clinical fields. At workshops in the afternoon, recent data and views are presented for each theme. We believe you can seek collaboration or gain inspiration for the next step through question and answer periods and discussions. At the end of workshops, after “1 minute presentation” by poster presenters, moving to the adjacent poster hall, participants can make lively discussions in a relaxed atmosphere. In this manner, we aim at the meeting in which you can actively get involved. We strongly expect that this annual meeting will act as forum to share ideas and insights, which can bring us new intellectual exchanges or collaborations that lead to advance future research.

“Call for papers” is scheduled to open on Tuesday, May 10. Not only the JSI member but nonmembers are welcome to submit abstracts. We desire young researchers to provide a breath of fresh air in order to make further progress in the world’s leading immunological study in Japan. The Annual Meeting of JSI will take place in Chiba for the first time, and also become the first meeting whose venue is confined. We paid attention to convenience of participants in the process of arranging the site, such as four international symposia simultaneously proceeding on the same floor, and the poster and exhibition hall adjacent to the lecture hall. Enjoying views of Tokyo Sky Tree on the way, please come to Makuhari, a vibrant area with the futuristic and man-made cityscape, where has been changing rapidly toward the 21st century international city. We sincerely look forward to your abstract submission.