Australian Inflammation Centres (AIC) 2026 Annual Symposium

The Australian Inflammation Centres (AIC) bring together inflammation researchers from eleven major sites: The University of Melbourne, Australian National University, Centenary Institute, Curtin Medical Research Institute, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Monash University, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, SAiGENCI (Adelaide University), QIMR Berghofer, The University of Queensland, and WEHI.

Now in its sixth year, the 2026 Annual AIC Symposium will be jointly held with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Immunology (ASI) Special Interest Group on Innate Immunity, and the Australasian Cell Death Society (ACDS). This national two-day showcase event, hosted at Melbourne Dental School, will provide an opportunity for inflammation, innate immunity and cell death research communities to engage, connect and enhance research collaboration.

Date: 9-10 November, 2026

Hybrid Event: Join in-person or online (free registration)

In-Person Location: Hosted at Melbourne Dental School (720 Swanston St, Carlton), The University of Melbourne, Victoria

*There are limited in-person places available - if you have registered for in-person attendance and can no longer attend, please contact australian.inflammation.centres@gmail.com

Topics include:

• Innate mechanisms in disease

• Inflammation and cancer

• Infection and vaccination

• Immune cell signalling

• Emerging therapeutics and biomarkers

Speakers will include: Dr André Samson (CID/WEHI), Prof Ana Traven (Monash University), A/Prof Laura Edgington-Mitchell (University of Melbourne), Prof Jay Horvat (University of Newcastle), A/Prof Yu Yu (Curtin MRI), Dr Laszlo Groh (Mhlangalab/Radboud University) and Dr Jim Harris (CSIRO).

Short talks will be selected from submitted abstracts, and there will also be a poster session and networking opportunities.

All presenting authors must register for the meeting before submitting an abstract - only presenting authors attending in person will be considered.

Abstract submissions open: Monday 24th August 2026

Abstract submission deadline: Friday 25th September 2026 (late abstracts submitted after this date will not be considered).

Abstracts must include: Title, all authors’ names, affiliation and career stage (eg. PhD student, postdoctoral scientist) of first author. The presenting author is the first author. Please indicate if you would like your abstract to be considered for a short talk, or if you prefer to only be considered for a poster.

Max word count is 200; this excludes authors and affiliations.

Abstracts must be submitted by email to: australian.inflammation.centres@gmail.com

Abstracts will not be published.

• AIC: Prof Seth Masters, Prof Michael Hickey and Dr Marianne Megroz

• ASI SIG: Dr Dominic De Nardo, Dr Rutger Roring

• ACDS: Dr Sabrina Sofia Burgener, Dr Georgia Atkin-Smith

www.australianinflammationcentres.org