ESOF 2014

Euroscience Open Forum 2014

COPSAC is chairing a scientific session on “Shared early life origin of common immune disorders” at Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2014 which is held at the Carlsberg City district, Copenhagen from 21. – 26. June 2014.

ESOF is a biennial European event designed as an open platform for debating science and as a showcase for European and global research with more than 400 speakers and over 5000 participating scientists, politicians and journalists.

ESOF2014 is a unique opportunity for leading scientists, young researchers, students, entrepreneurs, policymakers, journalists and the general public to discuss new discoveries and debate the direction that research is taking in all the sciences.

Scientific Session

Hans Bisgaard is chairing a scientific session with the title:
Shared early life origin of common immune disorders
June 24 2014 09:00 – 10:15
Carlsberg Museum/The Dance Halls

Non communicable diseases – asthma, allergy, diabetes, obesity, inflammatory bowel diseases, and disturbances of neurologic development – are on the rise. Although they share common molecular mechanisms science has largely failed to provide evidence-based recommendations that may lower the risk of these conditions.
Since the genetic pool is stable, the increase points to environmental influences, probably acting through epigenetic modifications on gene expression. Infants are immunologically immature in the first months of life, where disease may be programmed by exposures from microorganisms populating the human body – the microbiome – and diet.
The microbiome may act as a protector, but in certain genetic backgrounds microbes have the potential to cause or maintain disease. Bacteria in our gut, skin and airways may mediate interaction between the body and its environment and represent a target for preventive interventions. Protective factors in maternal diet during pregnancy influence maturation and regulation of neonatal immune responses and provide an opportunity for preventive intervention in pregnancy. Understanding such gene‰-environmental interactions in early life is key to understanding the origins of immune disorders and to prevent chronic disease.

Speakers
Hans Bisgaard (moderator)
Professor of Pediatrics
Danish Pediatric Asthma Center, Capital Region of Denmark

Susan Prescott
Professor
University of Western Australia – School of Paediatrics and Child Health (SPACH)

Harald Renz
Professor, Dr. Med.
Head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Diagnostics of the University Hospital Marburg

Thorkild I.A. Sørensen
Professor
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, ‘Section on Metabolics   Genetics’, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, and Institute of Preventive Medicine, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospitals, The Capital Region, Denmark