From 9^th to 11^th November, Luxembourg will host the International Symposium on Molecular Allergology (ISMA) at the European Convention Centre Luxembourg. LIH’s Department of Infection and Immunity is organising this international and worldwide known meeting together with the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

ISMA is one of several focused meetings of the EAACI targeting the research community. For the first time, the Department of Infection and Immunity, which has a strong focus on allergy and clinical immunology research, will co-organise this major international scientific event in Luxembourg. Registration is already open and details about the scientific programme and abstract submission can be found at http://www.eaaci.org/focused-meetings/isma-2017.

Prof Markus Ollert, Director of the Department of Infection and Immunity, was the driving force in bringing the symposium to Luxembourg after previous editions had been held in other capitals such as Lisbon, Vienna and Rome. Dr Christiane Hilger and Dr Annette Kuehn, Principal Investigators at the Department of Infection and Immunity, are part of the local Scientific and Organising Committee. The team is assisted by the communication services of both LIH and IBBL - Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg. The conference is also supported by a RESCOM grant (project 11584330) from the Luxembourg National Research Fund.

ISMA is expected to bring together more than 400 scientists and medical experts from the field of molecular allergology and clinical immunology at the European Convention Centre Luxembourg in Kirchberg. The event shall promote the establishment of strong scientific links between scientists at an international level and enhance the intensity of scientific debate and exchange of ideas.

This year, ISMA has a novel structure that will not only include topics such as the allergome, but also the analysis of molecular allergen structures and the challenges in molecular diagnosis and therapy of allergic diseases. A second track will be offered that covers newly emerging and rapidly developing fields of molecular allergology, such as the microbiome in relation to allergic diseases, new developments in personalised medicine, in omics technologies, in biomarker research, in biological therapies and functional foods.

‘The hosting of international events in Luxembourg that give the country more visibility and expose its growing positioning in biomedical research are strongly encouraged by the Luxembourgish Government’, comments Prof Ollert. ‘Regarding LIH and the Department of Infection and Immunity in particular, the association to this highly recognised scientific conference will represent a strong impulse towards the achievement of our scientific strategy. We are proud to contribute directly to the organisation and success of this event’, he emphasises.