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March 3, 2003

Media Contact: Sue Pondrom, (619) 543-6163

Top National Researchers Scheduled
For Molecular Medicine Symposium

Several world leaders in medical research will be among the presenters at the 3rd Annual Days of Molecular Medicine symposium March 13-15, sponsored by The Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, and the journal Nature Medicine.

With a theme of “Immunotherapy: A Technology Platform for Molecular Medicine,” the program will be held at the Salk Institute’s La Jolla, California campus. The keynote address, “The Standard and Contrasting Roles of 1h-2 and 1h15: Implications for Immunotherapy,” will be presented by Thomas A. Waldmann, M.D., Ph.D., National Cancer Institute.

Days of Molecular Medicine founder, Kenneth Chien, M.D., Ph.D., director of UCSD’s Institute of Molecular Medicine, notes that “ new advances in the development of humanized antibodies, vaccine technology, and activation of specific cells of the immune system are leading a new wave of targeted therapy for diverse human diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, inflammatory diseases, and heart disease. This meeting focuses on how the immune system can be harnessed to treat a broad range of medical disorders that are beyond the diseases of the immune system.”

In addition to Chien, symposium co-organizers are Christopher Glass, M.D., Ph.D., UCSD Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Inder Verma, Ph.D, Laboratory of Genetics, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; and Beatrice Renault, Ph.D., editor, Nature Medicine.

Among the internationally known researchers in a special forum titled “Building the Translational Highway: Towards New Partnerships between Academia and the Private Section” are the following individuals:

• Claude Lenfant, M.D., director, National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, who will give a keynote address;
  
• Sir George Radda, D. Phil, Oxford University, and executive director of the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council, “Research Today for Health Tomorrow: The UK Medical Research Council Strategy”;
  
• Kelly Schwartz, Ph.D., of France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, “A Franco-American Partnership for Cell Therapy”;
  
• Edward W. Holmes, M.D., vice chancellor, UCSD Health Sciences, “Building the Translational Highway”;
  
• David G. Nathan, M.D., Harvard, “Clinical Research and the NIH: A Report Card”;
  
• Andrew Chan, M.D., Ph.D., Genentech, “Academia and Industry: Finding Common Ground”;|
  
• Drew E. Senyei, M.D., Enterprise Partners, “Venture Capital: Providing the Fuel for the Translational Highway”.

One of the highlights of each year’s Days of Molecular Medicine is the awards presentation. This year’s honorees are:

• Translational Medicine – Brian Druker, M.D., University of Oregon and Charles Sawyer, M.D., UCLA. Drs. Druker and Sawyer developed Gleevec, a new, targeted approach to treating chronic myelogenous leukemia. Gleevec is a specific inhibitor of the translocation- created enzyme, which works by blocking the rapid growth of white blood cells. Dr. Druker received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from UCSD.
  
• Service – Evelyn Lauder, corporate vice president, The Estee Lauder Companies, and founder and chairman of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Ms. Lauder will be honored for her efforts to foster public awareness about breast cancer.
  
• Mentorship – Lloyd H. “Holly” Smith, M.D., University of California, San Francisco. His nominator noted that Smith has “a unique way of motivating people. He is one of those leaders who does not have to talk about high professional standards, ethics or responsibility because he exemplified these attributes himself.”

A list of scientific sessions is below. For more information on Days of Molecular Medicine, see http://imm.ucsd.edu/dmm/.

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Scientific sessions and presenters at Days of Molecular Medicine will be:

• “Dendritic Cells,” Ralph Steinman, M.D., the Rockefeller University;
• “Genetic Engineering of Systemic Antitumor Immune Responses,” Drew M. Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University;
• “Mixed Hematopietic chimerism: Role in malignant and non-malignant diseases,” Megan Sykes, M.D., Harvard;
• “Modulating the number and function of antigen-specific T cells for treatment of malignant disease,” Philip D. Greenberg, M.D., University of Washington;
• “The Role of Innate Immunity in Human Disease,” Richard J. Ulevitch, Ph.D., The Scripps Research Institute;
• “Monoclonal Antibodies and the Therapy of Lymphoma,” Ronald Levy, M.D., Stanford University;
• “Antibodies and viruses: The search for an HIV vaccine,” Dennis R. Burton, Ph.D., The Scripps Research Institute;
• “Coupling Antibodies to Effector Responses,” Jeffrey V. Ravetch, M.D., Ph.D., the Rockefeller University;
• “Transcriptional repressors regulating B and T lymphocyte differentiation: facilitating adoptive immunotherapy,” Douglas Fearon, Cambridge;
• “Innate immune mechanisms in atherogenesis: Convergence of responses to infectious agents,” Joseph Witztum, M.D., UCSD;
• “Precision Guiding of Therapeutic T-cell Responses,” Cornelius J.M. Melief, M.D., Ph.D., Leiden University;
• “Manipulation of Inhibitory Co-stimulation in Tumor Immunotherapy,” James P. Allison, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute/UC Berkeley;
• “New Pathways in the B7-CD28 Superfamily,” Arlene Sharpe, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School;
• “Vaccines for Cancer Treatment: From Mice to Men,” Elizabeth M. Jaffe, M.D., Johns Hopkins University;
• “Vaccination and immunomodulation: Future prevention and therapy for arteriosclerosis?” Goran K. Hansson, M.D., Ph.D., Karolinska Institute;
• “Biology of IL-18,” Charles A. Dinarello, M.D., University of Colorado;
• “Novel pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways in atherogenesis,” Peter Libby, M.D., Harvard Medical School;
• “Regulation of Signaling Networks in Immunity and Oncogenesis,” Tadatssugu Taniguchi, Ph.D., University of Tokyo;
• “Th2 cytokines and their receptors as therapeutic targets for allergic disease,” David Corry, Baylor College of Medicine;
• “Vaccine Vectors in the Development of an HIV Vaccine,” Emilio A. Emini, Ph.D., Merck;
• “Molecular Mapping of the Human Vasculature,” Wadih Arap, M.D., Ph.D., University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center;
• “Clear Forks in the Path to an AIDS Vaccine,” Harriet L. Robinson, Ph.D., Emory University;
• “Manipulating the HIV life-cycle by RNA interference,” Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts;