NZ ASI Newsletter March 2015 Time to renew your ASI membership – go online: http://www.immunology.org.au/membership/ Are you going to FIMSA (June 30-‐July 1)? I have a favour to ask you on behalf of IUIS – please contact me: [email protected] ASI Visiting Speakers ALEX SHALEK – 15 March – Auckland (contact Rochelle Ramsay – [email protected]) 18 March – Wellington (contact Lindsay Ancelet – [email protected]) ERIC VIVIER – 24 April – Wellington (contact Lindsay Ancelet – [email protected]) NZASI funds are available to support travel for ASI student members to either of these talks. Please contact Ros if you are interested – [email protected] Australasian Cytometry Society 38th Annual Conference, Workshop and AGM October 11-‐14, Perth Contact Kylie Price: [email protected] The Australasian Society for Immunology 2015 New Zealand Branch Meeting 1 July 2 July 2-3 July BD Flow Cytometry Workshop Welcome drinks in Old Government House Conference dinner at the Hilton NZASI 2015. The Library, the University of Auckland Research Profile Farah Al Barwani Completed PhD Student University of Otago ASI student rep 2013 Enhancing the Functionality of RHDV VLP Supervisors: Vernon Ward, Sarah Young, Margaret Baird, David Larsen, Jo Kirman My Ph.D. focused on modifying the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) virus like particles (VLP), to enhance their ability to deliver tumour-‐associated antigens to the immune system, and augment the resultant anti-‐tumour immunity. As mannosylation of antigens has been demonstrated to enhance antigen uptake through mannose receptors, leading to improved immune responses, I tested the effect of surface mannosylation of RHDV VLP on the functionality. VLP conjugated to the monomannoside or dimannoside exhibited significantly enhanced binding and internalization by murine and human APC, as well as enhanced anti-‐tumour efficacy. This project allowed me to learn methodologies from a number of fields, including organic chemistry (mannoside synthesis), biochemistry (VLP synthesis and modification) and immunology (testing the different VLP in vivo and in vitro). I am looking for a postdoctoral fellowship, with the eventual goal of becoming an academic in my home country (Sultanate of Oman). Immunology Seminars Website and registration details coming soon Invited International Speakers Peng Li South China Institute of Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine. Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Pre-clinical cancer immunotherapy Kathy McCoy Department of Clinical Research. The University of Bern, Switzerland Gut microbiota and mucosal Immunology Wolfgang Weninger Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine & Cell Biology. The University of Sydney, Australia Visualisation of immune responses in vivo GlycoSyn BD Bioscience Miltenyi Biotec Aus In Vitro Technologies Abacus ALS Huntingtree Life Technologies Norrie Biotech StemCell Technologies Thermo Fisher Scientific Plant and Food Contact [email protected] for more details OTAGO 17 March – Logan Walker (UOC) Genetic variants and breast-‐cancer risk: targeted prevention and next generation challenges 20 March – Roslyn Kemp (Otago) Immunoscore to predict colorectal cancer patient outcome CHRISTCHURCH 11 March – Steve Chambers (UOC) Ebola: 12 months on, what have we learned? PALMERSTON NORTH 6 March –Eddy Rubin (USA) Microbial Dark