“Adaptive and Innate Immunity”, Havana, Cuba,
Course directors: Chris Rudd and Oliver Perez

This course was held over 3 days at the Fundación del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano with over 300 participants including undergraduate and graduate students, clinicians and research faculty members from all regions of Cuba.  From the feedback received, it was judged to be a great success.  Many attendees had never before heard international speakers, nor many of the topics that were presented or discussed.  Topics included aspects of adaptive and innate immunity and clinical aspects of adaptive and innate immunity with an emphasis on B-cells and innate immunity, given their importance to vaccine development.  Lectures on Aspects of Adaptive Immunity dealt with T and B cell signaling, cytokines, imaging of immune cells, and immunological networks and suppression. Lectures on Aspects of Innate Immunity were concentrated on Dendritic and Natural Killer (NK) cells, and signaling through Toll receptors. Clinical Aspects of Immunity were focused on T-cell signaling and immune pathologies, B cell tolerance and autoimmunity, IL-33 and inflammation, and clinical aspects of innate immunity. The implications of immunology for pregnancy were discussed in terms of fetal maternal tolerance and the role of NK cells.
The teachers of the course included Ashley Moffatt (Cambridge), David Gray (Edinburgh), Nelson Fernandez (Essex), Facundo Batista (CRUK, London), Luke O’Neille (Trinity, Dublin), AwenGallimore (Cardiff, Wales) and Chris Rudd (Cambridge University).  It was felt by all teachers that they had contributed to the development of immunology in Cuba by introducing new information and concepts and by partaking in subsequent discussions with the students.  There was plenty of time for informal discussions and interactions with students and for viewing posters.  Over 50 posters were presented by the course participants and contributing laboratories.  The Cuban Society for Immunology (CSI) under Professor Oliver Perez helped greatly in finding a venue for the course. The John Humphrey Course was organized and supported by the British Society of Immunology. This course was also supported by the European Federation of Immunological Societies and the IUIS Education Committee.

Student discussing poster with Drs Luke O’Neille and Oliver Perez

Group photo at the Havana Course