The Immunology Engineering Workshop will be held on October 26, 2011 from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm in the Marcus Nanotechnology Bldg, Rm 1116-1118. This is an Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) and College of Engineering-sponsored workshop. The chair of this workshop is Julia Babensee, PhD and the co-chairs are Cheng Zhu, PhD and Julie Champion, PhD. The goal of this workshop is to highlight the breadth of innovative research being undertaken by Georgia Tech faculty in the area of immunology engineering with a view to identifying potential collaborations and future team project areas. Topics will include immunomodulation, biomaterials to control immune/inflammatory responses, systems biology, vaccine delivery systems, lymphatics, pathogen sensing and immune cell biomechanics. Attendees of this workshop will include faculty, students and postdoctoral fellows from Georgia Tech as well as attendees from other institutions in the Atlanta Area, such as Emory University and Georgia State University. If you interested in attending, please CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. Below, you find the agenda for the workshop:

Immunology Engineering Workshop Agenda

8:00 am       Poster setup

8:30 am       Continental Breakfast and Poster Session

9:00 am       Introduction - Julia Babensee

Session I:  Cellular Aspects of Immune Engineering

9:15 am       Al Merrill - Macrophage lipidomics and modulation of immune function

9:30 am       Julia Babensee - Immunomodulatory biomaterials

9:45 am       Ed Botchwey - Mobilization and Recruitment of Endogenous Stem and Progenitor Cells

10:00 am      Brandon Dixon - The active role of lymphatics in promoting transport : Implications in immune cell trafficking and inflammation

10:15 am      Thanassis Sambanis - In vivo survival of encapsulated beta cell allografts and xenografts:  immunologic challenges and possible strategies

10:30 am      Coffee Break

Session II:  Immune Technology:  Imaging, Biomaterials and Vaccines

10:45 am      Andres Garcia - Biomaterials for imaging and modulating immune responses

11:00 am      Julie Champion - Protein biomaterials for immunomodulation

11:15 am      Todd Sulchek - Biomaterials for targeted modulation of the immune response

11:30 am      Niren Murthy - New strategies for treating and imaging infectious diseases and oxidative stress

11:45 am      Mark Prausnitz - Vaccination in the skin using a microneedle patch

12:00 pm      Lunch and poster session

Session III:  Fundamentals of Immune Responses

1:00 pm       Melissa Kemp - Modulation of T cell signaling via reactive oxygen species

1:15 pm       Manu Platt - Quantitative analysis of monocyte differentiation and patient variability

1:30 pm       Fred Vannberg - Human immunity to intracellular pathogens

1:45 pm       Susan Thomas - Nanotechnology in lymphoid tissue- targeting for tumor immunotherapy

2:00 pm       Cheng Zhu - Kinetic analysis of molecular interactions at the T cell surface

2:15 pm       Break

2:30 pm       Working Session on Next Steps

3:30 pm       Adjourn