Keystone Symposia

This meeting took place in 2023



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B Cell Biology in the Context of Infectious Diseases, Autoimmunity and B Cell Cancers (Z5)


Organizer(s) Facundo D. Batista, Susan K. Pierce, Oliver Bannard, Mauro Gaya and Michelle Linterman
June 6—10, 2023
Keystone Resort • Keystone, CO USA
Abstract Deadline: Mar 21, 2023
Scholarship Deadline: Mar 21, 2023
Discounted Registration Deadline: Apr 6, 2023

Sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies


Summary of Meeting:
It is now well appreciated that effective B cell antibody responses are essential for human health and protection against deadly infectious diseases and that on the flipside B cell antibodies are mediators of devastating autoimmune diseases and when released from normal control mechanisms B cell malignancies are common and many remain untreatable. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the mature B cell compartment is highly heterogeneous and that antigen-driven fates of individual B cells are dependent on a several factors including the affinity of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) and how the BCR is wired to the B cell’s activation machinery as well as the quality of the immune environment defined by both antigen-specific T cells and innate immune cells responding to pathogen-derived signals. In this context the generation of long-lived protective immunity versus B cell malignancies or systemic autoimmunity may represent the spectrum of outcomes resulting from different combinations of BCR affinity and wiring and the T cell and innate signals experienced by B cells during activation. If so our ability to rationally manipulate B cell responses to develop vaccines against infectious diseases and therapies for autoimmune diseases and B cell cancers may be greatly accelerated by gaining a detailed understanding of the fundamentals of B cell biology and translating this knowledge to clinical and basic research addressing the most pressing public health priorities of our times in acute and chronic infectious diseases, autoimmunity and B cell malignancies.

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Scholarships/Awards


Burroughs Wellcome Fund ECITA Scholarship Recipients


Mohamed Khass
Western Michigan University, USA

Haolin Liu
National Jewish Health, USA

Keystone Symposia Donor Funds Scholarship Recipients


Cherrelle Dacon
National Institutes of Health, USA

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Scholarship Recipients


Cristian G. Beccaria
San Raffaele Scientific Institute, San Raffaele Hospital, Italy

Laurine Binet
University of Aix-Marseille, France

Jaime L. Chao
University of Washington, USA

Renan Villanova Homem de Carvalho
Rockefeller University, USA

Lachlan P. Deimel
University of Oxford, UK

Raul Fernando Reyes-Huerta
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico

Christopher Risley
UAB, USA

Ellen Shrock
Harvard University, USA

Clara Young
Garvan Institute, Australia

Stephanie Watts Scholarship Recipients


Christopher Jondle
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, USA

Keystone Symposia Global Health Travel Award Recipients, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation


Makka Adam
Yirgalem Hospital Medical college, Ethiopia

Laura Almada
CIBICI-Universidad Nacional De Cordoba, Argentina

Yamila Natali Gazzoni
CIBICI, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina

Sanjeev Kumar
International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India

Thanh Hoa Le
Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Vietnam

Ricardo Luís Louzada da Silva
Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil

Adedayo Olubunmi Makinde
University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Jose Luis Maravillas-Montero
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

Lamech Malagho Mwapagha
Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia

Kaustuv Nayak
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India

Olawunmi Rashidat Oyerinde
Mountain Top University, Nigeria

Anna Julia Pietrobon
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Kittikorn Wangriatisak
Mahidol University, Thailand