The 4th International Conference on Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILC4 2020), was originally scheduled to take place October 16-18, 2020 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA, USA. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has precluded our ability to continue our science and to physically congregate safely at meetings to share our work.  As such, we had to reluctantly cancel the planned October International Innate Lymphocyte Conference in San Francisco (ILC4) and are now planning the meeting as a Joint Meeting with Cytokines 2022 Hybrid: 10th Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society, 20-23 September, 2022 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA.  

Registered attendees of one meeting may participate in sessions of the other, pending space availability. There will be a few combined sessions and social functions, but the ILC4 program will focus on ILC’s and be just as diverse and comprehensive as the previous three meetings have been.

By sharing a high profile island location attractive to in-person visitors — as well as the hybrid/virtual meeting platform to have improved access for those who may still not be comfortable, or just do not wish to fly around the world to hear about the latest research, the partnership with the International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS) is a natural one. We hope you will plan on joining us in Hawaii in September, 2022!

The theme of ILC4 is ILCs in tissue homeostasis and disease.

The aim of this international conference series is to provide an interactive platform for the exchange of new concepts, ideas and data between immunologists interested in ILCs and innate lymphocytes at large. ILCs are recently described tissue-resident cells increasingly implicated across a spectrum of diseases, including in humans. New methods, some rapidly evolving, have enabled a deeper look at the role of these cells in tissue health. Unappreciated plasticity, migration and functions are being uncovered every day, necessitating a timely update of standard methods, technologies and functional assays required for purification, imaging and analysis of ILCs with unprecedented detail, including single-cell sequencing and multi-parameter protein-based approaches. Attendees will learn the state-of-the-art current understanding of these fascinating cells from world experts in all facets of their biology.

Based on past biennial meetings (Paris, 2014; Berlin, 2016; Tokyo, 2018), we anticipate an attendance of 300- 350 participants for this three-day program. The primary objective of the program is to cover basic and translational aspects of innate lymphocyte biology in model mouse systems and in humans as well as their roles in tissue homeostasis, immune regulation and disease by combining talks by invited expert speakers and selected abstract submissions to be presented as oral or poster presentations.

There will be sessions dedicated to allergic, metabolic, neurologic, and other inflammatory diseases, as well as stem cells and cancer. The meeting will bridge the gap between the scientists performing basic research across the scope of these recently described cells and those working to harness this knowledge to develop strategies for interventions that restore tissue homeostasis.

The program will include invited expert speakers and selected abstract submissions to be presented as oral or Poster presentations. Ample time will be reserved for networking, including a welcome reception (to be held jointly with Cytokines 2022), ILC4 poster sessions and a Final Night Networking event to be held jointly out on the Lawn at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

 

Abstract submission will open on February 1st for poster presentations from which applicants will be selected by the Organizing Committee for oral presentations. We will also offer awards for poster presentations to encourage young and early-career researchers.

Abstract Submission Categories:

  • ILC Development and Trajectories
  • ILC Tissue Niches
  • ILC1s and NK cells
  • ILC2s
  • ILC3s
  • Central and Peripheral Nervous System and ILCs
  • ILCs and Metabolism
  • ILCs and Cancer
  • ILCs and Atopic Diseases
  • ILCs and Inflammatory Diseases
  • Human ILCs
  • Therapeutics

We look forward to receiving many applications from all over the world and to meeting you in Hawaii or on the Virtual Platform.

Sincerely,

Richard Locksley, MD, Chair, University of California, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, San Francisco, USA

Ari Molofsky, MD, PhD, MD, PhD, Department of Laboratory Medicine, UCSF

Lewis Lanier, PhD, Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCSF

Mark Ansel, PhD, Director, Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCSF