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Keeping an eye on first infections
The São Paulo School of Advanced Science (SPSAS) about Primary Immune Deficiencies (ESPCA) selects 50 students from Brazil and other countries. Developing a critical review of the resistance mechanisms against bacterial and viral infections is a main target of the meeting (photo: Inst. Criança)
Alex Sander Alcântara
Agência FAPESP – Since young age, a few children are susceptible to diverse infections caused mainly by bacteria and viruses.
Although a minor problem in some situations, the long-term repetition and the evolution to infection may point to immune system disorders in one or more of its components. This is the so-called primary immune deficiency, the diagnosis of which still defies medical doctors and researchers.
Understanding and carrying out a review on the mechanisms concerned with the resistance against bacterial and viral infections is one of the most prominent objectives of the São Paulo School of Advanced Science (SPSAS) about Primary Immune Deficiencies (ESPCA): unveiling human immune physiology.
From November 28 to December 4, 2010, young Brazilian as well as international researchers will have the opportunity to interact with some of the main worldwide known immunologists. They will also exchange experiences with other students and young professionals. A number of 50 graduate and post-doctoral degree students of biomedical and biological sciences will be selected: 25 from Brazil and the remaining 25 from other countries.
Organized by the Medical School of the University of São Paulo (FMUSP) in a partnership with the Gulbenkian Institute of Science (IGC) from Portugal, the event is going to hold conferences, short courses with practical classes related to genomics, presentations, and clinical case discussions. The event will take place at the FMUSP Children Institute. Registration will end up on September 20.
The ESPCA – FAPESP’s research support modality – Scientific and/or Technological Meeting Organization – is aimed at creating opportunities for scientists from the state of São Paulo to organize courses with the participation of international colleagues and attract young students or post-doctoral researchers from other countries and regions as to promote the interaction between students and local researchers as well as the debate of advanced scientific themes.
According to Magda Carneiro-Sampaio, professor of FMUSP’s Department of Pediatrics and one of the event organizers, the meeting is also focused on the discussion and promotion of translational medicine, within the field of immunology in Brazil, which is an attempt to bring basic science and clinical application close together.
“Mainly in regard to immunology, meaningful knowledge derives from experimental models performed in mice. Basic research conducted in this area is growing fast, but cases in which discoveries made in experimental models are transformed into therapies are still rare”, she declared to Agência FAPESP .
The proposal of the São Paulo School of Advanced Science (SPSAS) about Primary Immune Deficiencies follows the opposite path of experimental models. This means that it is aimed at studying primary immune deficiency patients as models for the understanding of immunology.
“Primary immune deficiencies are predominantly pediatric diseases. Their definition is based upon the great susceptibility that patients have to disease. A great many of them present regulation mechanism flaws that lead to extreme allergy and inflammation”, she explained.
A second point to consider by the School is going to be the review of tolerance mechanisms. “The immune system reacts or is supposed to react against external infectious agents and not against its own agents. Meanwhile, self-attack is a real situation: the so-called autoimmune diseases, which affect around 8% of adult populations. Arthritis, thyroiditis, vitiligo, and type 1 diabetes mellitus are the most common ones. We are going to review the means of tolerance for the organism’s own antigens through these diseases".
Inscriptions and highlights
According to Carlos Alberto Moreira, the coordinator for the Pediatric Genomics Laboratory at FMUSP and the professional in charge of the laboratorial part of the course, medical sciences have been changing into a diverse paradigm:
“We are now moving from empirical treatments to other therapies based on the molecular mechanism of the disease. Our ability to intercede is not only after the clinical onset: it has gradually occurred earlier. Therefore, medicine is evolving towards individual therapy”.
Moreira also says that another school target is to show genomic technologies as a means to understand autoimmune diseases: “Modern analytical tools used in our researches will be made available: the students will be able to see how we collect data from the practice, what we do with such material, how we obtain information, and how we carry genomic analyses out".
Both international and Brazilian students coming from other states will receive an aid for the purchase of traveling tickets, food and lodging. Students from São Paulo will be given meal allowance. The course length is 50 hours. According to Magda Carneiro, the organization is trying to accredit the course to the Graduate Department of Pediatrics at FMUSP so that the full course length corresponds to three regular course credits.
Each candidate is required to send an e-mail containing academic information – including personal data, school and supervisor's name –, a letter explaining the motivations to take part in the course, abstract of the current research project, resumé, and a recommendation letter.
“In the cover letter, candidates are required to justify their expectations about the School by explaining how it relates to research as well as to both academic and professional activities”, says Carneiro, emphasizing that the event will gather together a team of physicians who develop basic science with other medical doctors who perform experimental research.
The São Paulo School of Advanced Science (SPSAS) about Primary Immune Deficiencies is going to offer conferences, presentation and analysis of clinical cases, in addition to laboratory practice. The event comprises 19 lecturers: nine Brazilians and ten from other countries.
Director of the Gulbenkian Institute and one of the event organizers, the Portuguese researcher António Coutinho is going to give one of the opening speeches. His conference topic is “Evolution and development of natural tolerance within the context of anti-infectious protection".
“Coutinho is in charge of the translational part. He deals with both areas: the experimental part, though keeping an eye on clinical analysis", says Magda Carneiro. Diane Mathis, from Harvard University (US), is another highlight of the event with her speech on the AIRE factor.
“This mechanism is essential for the so-called self-antigen tolerance. During their differentiation in the thymus, young lymphocytes recognize the self-antigens (which are found there due to the action of AIRE) as doomed, that is, they undergo apoptosis. Diane was not the one to discover the AIRE gene, but she is currently known as the greatest researcher of such central tolerance phenomenon in which a gene plays a momentous role".
Sergio Rosenzweig, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in the US, is going to speak about primary immune deficiencies and microbacterial diseases by taking a specific model as a starting point to understand microorganism susceptibility.
In addition to the conferences, Carneiro emphasizes the relevance of the laboratory activities in which students will present and discuss case studies. “They will be divided into three groups formed by nearly ten students who will discuss the proposed themes and cases, mainly regarding genomic tools”.
For further information on the São Paulo School of Advanced Science (SPSAS) about Primary Immune Deficiencies: www.icr.usp.br/espca-pid.
Further information about ESPCA: www.fapesp.br/espca.
Media Contacts
Fernando Cunha, FAPESP (www.fapesp.br) / (+55) 11 3838-4151
São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP – is an independent public foundation with the mission to foster research and the scientific and technological development of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. This is achieved through the support of research projects carried out in higher education and research institutions, in all fields of knowledge.