2018 Antibody Biology and Engineering Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar - R13 – Project Summary
This application seeks partial support for the 2018 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Antibody Biology
and Engineering, together with an accompanying Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) to be held on March 24-
30, 2018 at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco, Lucca (Barga), Italy. This is the 5th GRC and the 3rd GRS on
this topic which is representative of a highly exciting and influential meeting in the community. The aim of this
meeting is to provide in-depth coverage of important recent developments in the rapidly evolving field of
antibody biology and engineering, in an informal setting designed for maximal discussion and interaction. This
field has broad implications for a wide variety of biologic and clinically significant topics that cut broadly across
the multiple fields within the biomedical community, including immunity, infectious diseases, inflammation and
oncology. Furthermore, for the third time in this meeting series, we will incorporate a Gordon Research
Seminar (GRS). This has proved to be a highly successful addition to the Gordon Research Conference
(GRC). The GRS will run immediately prior to the GRC. It will provide seminar and poster sessions specifically
for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early career scientists to allow them to present and discuss
their research. As before, a GRS keynote speaker together with the GRC chairs, will offer support and advice
through a mentorship session and continuous interactions with the trainees during the course of the GRS and
subsequent GRC meeting.
The GRC will host approximately 28-30 talks from invited speakers, spanning topics in basic research through
clinical applications with a very dynamic mix of scientists from academia and industry. It is envisioned, that an
additional 10-14 shorter talks will be given primarily by young scientists, selected from submitted abstracts. In
addition, the GRC will also incorporate 4 poster sessions. Taken together, the 2018 GRC will report the most
significant recent research advances in an international field of antibody biology and engineering. The
discoveries presented this conference are at the leading edge in the therapeutic antibody development and
clinical applications. Building on the long history of creative academia-industry interactions which have
characterized the three previous meetings in this series, this GRC and its associated GRS will provide an ideal
opportunity for academic and bio-pharma researchers from around the world to network and forge new
collaborations. We envision that novel therapeutic applications are likely to ensue from the cross pollination of
the ideas that will be presented at this meeting. Furthermore, by providing opportunities for younger
researchers to present their studies and to discuss their work with more established scientists, this meeting will
act as an important spring board for the development of a future group of investigators in this rapidly emerging
and critically important field.
