The Queensland Immunology Research Centre (QIRC) is pleased to announce a special immunology mini symposium that will be held Friday May 24, 2024 from 12:00pm-2:20pm in Bancroft Auditorium, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (300 Herston Road, Herston, QLD 4006). Lunch is provided.

Two leading international experts, Prof. Peter Cresswell (Yale University) and Prof. Crystal Mackall (Stanford University), will speak at this mini symposium. Prof. Cresswell will speak on how molecular machinery in immune system recognizes foreign pathogens and Prof. Mackall will focus on recent advances in the development of CAR T cell therapies for cancer.

Please register by Monday, 20 May 2024. If you have any questions about the event, please email qirc@uq.edu.au.

About the Speakers

Prof. Peter Cresswell PhD FRS

Variations on a theme: MHC-I-restricted antigen processing in bats

Prof. Cresswell is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Cell Biology and Dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry, his M.S. degree in microbiology from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K., and his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and immunology from London University. His postdoctoral training was completed at Harvard University with Jack Strominger. Before assuming his position at Yale, Prof. Cresswell was Chief of the Division of Immunology at Duke University Medical Center. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, U.K., and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine.

Prof. Crystal Mackall MD

Next Generation CAR T Cells

Prof. Mackall is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University, the Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy. Her work has advanced understanding of fundamental immunology and translated this understanding for the treatment of human disease with a major focus on children’s cancers. She has led numerous first-in-human and first-in-child clinical trials spanning dendritic cell vaccines, cytokines, and adoptive immunotherapy using NK cells and genetically modified T cells. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, American Society of Clinical Investigation and American Academy of Physicians, and a fellow of the AACR Academy.