We are organising a two day Wild and Comparative Immunology (WACI) workshop in Tasmania (5-6 December 2019) just before the Annual Scientific Meeting of The Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology meeting. We aim to showcase complementary research and technology areas in the field of comparative immunology and biology (wild immunology, ecoimmunology, disease ecology). We have recently outlined some of our rationale for these topics in an eLetter to Science. The workshop intends to cover a number four primary themes:
1) Reagent, techniques, and applications
2) Real-world immunology
3) New model species development
4) Wild and Comparative Immunology in the next decade
The intended outcomes of the workshop are to:
1) Foster collaborative linkages
2) Prepare outlines for manuscripts to steer the direction of Wild and Comparative Immunology in the coming years
3) Organise teams for future funding applications
If there is sufficient interest, we will also lead a ” Pre-workshop training: Make your own species-specific cytokine” at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research in Hobart, Tasmania 3-4 December 2019. Prior to the workshop you choose which cytokine (or other recombinant protein) would be most useful to your research and work with Andrew Flies (@WildImmunity) to design the expression vector. In the two-day pre-workshop training we will assemble the expression vector, transform it into bacteria, and purify the plasmid. You can then either use the expression vector to make the protein yourself or work with our team to generate a purified recombinant protein (2-4 weeks).
Organising committee:
Jerome Le Nours (Monash University)
Andrew Flies (University of Tasmania)
Michelle Baker (CSIRO)
Contact us at info@wacimmuno.com for more information.
