Symposium honoring WUSM professor focuses on new immunology discoveries

Immunology researchers from across the United States and as far away as Sweden are coming to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to discuss some of the latest scientific insights into the immune system. The general public is welcome to attend.

Emil Unanue

The symposium, "Immunology at the Horizon of the New Millennium," is being held in honor of Emil Unanue, M.D., the Paul and Ellen Lacy Professor of Pathology. Unanue served as head of the Department of Pathology and Immunology for 21 years, stepping down last summer.

During his tenure as head, the immunology program at Washington University became one of the most innovative and productive centers in the world for immunological research. Unanue's own research is internationally recognized for producing insights into how the immune system recognizes and responds to foreign material, or antigen.

Speakers selected to participate in the symposium will cover a broad range of research areas. They will highlight trends in recent years that have expanded the influence of immunological research beyond its traditional foci, aiding the body's defenses against disease-causing invaders and ensuring that those same defenses aren't erroneously turned against the body in autoimmune diseases like arthritis or diabetes. These trends have linked the immune system or parts of it to a much wider array of important biological processes, such as growth and development.

At the symposium, the University also will formally install Andrey Shaw, M.D., as the first Emil R. Unanue Professor of Immunobiology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology.

Washington University School of Medicine's full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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