The first Max Planck Society (MPG)–RIKEN joint workshop ‘Activation and Regulation of the Immune System’ was held April 16 and 17 in Berlin. Participating scientists were from the RIKEN Research Center for Allergy and Immunology (RCAI, Yokohama), the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPIIB), the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology (MPI), and the German Rheumatism Research Center (DRFZ). The sessions were held in a modern research facility that houses both the MPIIB and DRFZ located on the historic Charité medical campus in the heart of Berlin. This venue was particularly fitting for a joint German/Japanese immunology meeting because it was here that German and Japanese bacteriologists Emil Behring and Kitasato Shibasabur collaborated in groundbreaking studies in the 1880s.
The meeting covered the spectrum of current immunologic research, providing an opportunity for scientists from both countries to learn the latest developments in their respective fields and to establish personal relationships that should foster future collaborations. The meeting featured talks by senior scientists including: Thomas Boehm (MPI), who described his efforts to trace the evolutionary origin of the MHC-peptide system used for antigen presentation in contemporary vertebrates; Sergei Nedospasov (DRFZ), who spoke about the ongoing efforts to create mice humanized for the cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and TNF receptors as a model to allow the study of the in vivo effects of TNF blockers; Michael Reth (MPIIB), who described new transgenic mice in which Cre recombinase is driven by mb-1 regulatory elements; Toshitada Takemori (RCAI), who issued a challenge to the textbook immunology view that memory B cells are generated during the germinal center reaction; and Masaru Taniguchi (RCAI) and colleagues, who reported that they have solved a long-standing puzzle of how BCG immunization suppresses IgE production and have identified the central role of the NK T cell. The clinical implications of the studies by Taniguchi and his co-workers in terms of allergy abatement are currently being tested by BCG immunization in humans.
The initial memorandum of understanding to establish formal collaborations between RIKEN and MPG was signed in 1984. The participants at this joint meeting all agreed that it was a successful first edition that would stimulate collaborations and scientific exchanges, and that there should be more such meetings in the future.
