It is our pleasure to introduce this new, exciting and challenging International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI) initiative. We hope that it will contribute to the growing recognition of the role of the immune system in causing neurological disorders, and of the resulting new approaches to treatment. Because of the tremendous advances in these areas, we believe that an educational programme, spanning from basic immunology to clinical neuroimmunology, will guarantee that worldwide researchers can be educated in the field and keep abreast of new developments.
Modeled on the experience and successes of the annual European School for Neuroimmunology (ESNI), which was established in 1999 and became the official educational school of ISNI in 2010, we are pleased to announce the creation of the Americas School of Neuroimmunology (ASNI) and the Asia-Pacific School of Neuroimmunology (APSNI). We expect these schools to run every 2 years in their geographical locations, and all 3 schools will congregate at the biannual international congress of ISNI.
The inaugural ASNI will be held in Calgary, Canada on October 1 and 2, 2015, and is hosted by Professors V. Wee Yong (Canada) and Phil Popovich (USA). See lectures and lecturers in the program. The date for APSNI will be announced shortly.
With respect to the courses, we will focus on basic and applied neuroimmunology. Care has been taken to ensure that a large part of the meeting is dedicated to basic immunology, applicable to all neurological conditions. Participation in the educational courses is open with no restrictions. A second priority of the school is to create a lab network for exchanging personnel to train in neuroimmunology. Importantly, the slides of the lecturers, as has been the case for previous ESNI lectures, will be posted on our website and be made available to members through a protected password access. Overall, we aim to create a continuous and transformative educational programme in neuroimmunology, meaningful in our quest to treat neurological disorders.
We hope that you will participate in this new initiative, and contribute to the growth of neuroimmunology worldwide.
Gianvito Martino (Italy) and V. Wee Yong (Canada)