FASEB SRC on Nutritional Immunology and the Microbiatia: Rules of Engagement in Health and Disease

Contact PD/PI: Cantorna, Margherita T. SUMMARY ?Nutritional Immunology and the Microbiota: Rules of Engagement in Health & Disease? was selected by FASEB as a 2018 summer research conference to be held at the National Conference Center, Leesburg, VA, June 24 ? 29, 2018. A primary focus of this meeting has always been to understand the mechanisms by which diet affects the immune system to enhance health and decrease the risk of disease. This conference will have the same mechanistic focus, but with the added goal of introducing nutritional immunologists to a ?new? causal pathway involving the intestinal microbiota: Diet affects the composition and metabolism of the intestinal microbiota and the microbiota and their metabolites affect the host immune system, thereby modulating health and disease. Recent advances have shown that the host?s microbiome affects many diseases that are at least partially caused by the immune system, including obesity, asthma, diabetes, GI disorders, cardiovascular disease and autoimmunity. In this meeting, we have invited experts in the expanding field on microbiome research to help nutritional immunologists think about the ?rules of engagement? that may help describe how diet modulates the microbiome and how the microbiome affects health and disease by modulating the immune system. In addition to this new twist, the conference will focus on cutting edge immunological techniques that can be brought to bear on understanding the role of nutrition on influencing the immune response. Of special note, the influence of nutrition on immunity during developmental periods as well as during aging is also of high importance. Sessions examining these key issues are a part of our meeting. With the epidemic of obesity, diabetes and related metabolic disorders worldwide, in both children and adults, coupled with a growing understanding of the importance of the nutrient-microbe-immune axis, this area is of high importance and high interest to the scientific community. We are bringing together a diverse group of nutritionists, microbiologists, immunologists, nutritional-immunologists, biochemists, and clinicians. In this relaxed and somewhat confined setting, there can be an excellent exchange of ideas and expertise that may lead to new paradigms, new translational studies, and new appreciations for the interaction between nutrition, the microbiota and immune function. Although the health related objectives of this meeting are of paramount importance, this meeting is also vital to strengthening the base of this multi-disciplinary field as well as attracting new investigators. We are hoping for an attendance of 100-120 scientists, which is a realistic goal, as there has not been a major national meeting in nutritional immunology since 2015.