Nobel laureate Zinkernagel delivers keynote speech at NCKU
Tainan, Taiwan, November 22, 2013
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) hosted the 2013 International Symposium on Infectious Disease and Signal Transduction together with the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Joint Symposium on Cell Signaling and Gene Regulation, November 16, attracting a crowd of approximately 300.
A total of 19 experts from different countries including Switzerland, Japan, Canada and the USA were invited to give a talk.
NCKU President Dr. Hwung-Hweng Hwung said that the symposium is one of the highlights of the series of events that celebrate NCKU’s 82nd anniversary.
The event gathered together distinguished researchers from all over the world, to present their recent findings on research into virus, bacteria, and cancer.
The highlight of the event was undoubtedly the speech given by Nobel Laureate Dr. Rolf Zinkernagel, from the University of Zurich.
The Swiss-born academic was awarded the high honor due to his discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells, together with Peter Doherty of Australia, and he was here to deliver – in his own words – his “own bias of how immunity works, using viruses as teachers.”
According to Zinkernagel, he tried challenge textbook knowledge, and avoided using terms such as ‘specificity’ and ’immunological memory’ as, from a medical point of view, they are not only nebulous, but also ambiguous, failing to accurately reflect the mechanisms of how viruses work.
Instead, he tried to turn these immunological terms to protection based ones, such as ‘serotype’ and ‘immunological protection’.
One of the key points of Zinkernagel’s presentation was that immunological memory does not equal to protection. Immunological memory, he said, is provided by a “pre-existing titer that fits with specific conditions”, also known as antibody concentration.
However, they merely provide protection for a certain amount of time, as they gradually diminish in concentration. Usually, protection lasts up to 20-25 years, after which, we begin to experience immunity problems.
According to Dr. Zinkernagel, this is also an example of natural selection, as the “immune system protects from infection during the period of key evolution.”
Dr. Zinkernagel also addressed our current difficulties in finding an effective solution to the major problem presented by HIV.
The main issue is that we are unsuccessful in developing a vaccine for HIV, as the “high variability is a problem we haven’t been able to solve”, he said, and proposed that we should perhaps look into developing a “multi component type of vaccine”, which merges together all the possible forms of HIV into one vaccine.
When asked what he wished to achieve in delivering this keynote speech, Dr. Zinkernagel responded that he wishes to emphasize to everyone the distinction between immunological memory and protection, stressing that “you need periodical re-exposure throughout life that trains the immune system to keep up high enough antibody concentrations for protection”.
Professor Jiunn-Jong Wu, the Director of the NCKU CIDSR, was also in attendance at the symposium and said that he was “happy to arrange the symposium during the period of NCKU’s 82nd anniversary”, and hoped that the symposium will challenge and inspire students in attendance, as the topic of immunity and viruses is a very important one.
It is also a “very good opportunity for collaboration” with Japan, Wu added, and he believed that co-partnership will improve in the future.
Enditem/Wan-ling Yi
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) hosted the 2013 International Symposium on Infectious Disease and Signal Transduction together with the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Joint Symposium on Cell Signaling and Gene Regulation, November 16, attracting a crowd of approximately 300.
A total of 19 experts from different countries including Switzerland, Japan, Canada and the USA were invited to give a talk.
NCKU President Dr. Hwung-Hweng Hwung said that the symposium is one of the highlights of the series of events that celebrate NCKU’s 82nd anniversary.
The event gathered together distinguished researchers from all over the world, to present their recent findings on research into virus, bacteria, and cancer.
The highlight of the event was undoubtedly the speech given by Nobel Laureate Dr. Rolf Zinkernagel, from the University of Zurich.
The Swiss-born academic was awarded the high honor due to his discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells, together with Peter Doherty of Australia, and he was here to deliver – in his own words – his “own bias of how immunity works, using viruses as teachers.”
According to Zinkernagel, he tried challenge textbook knowledge, and avoided using terms such as ‘specificity’ and ’immunological memory’ as, from a medical point of view, they are not only nebulous, but also ambiguous, failing to accurately reflect the mechanisms of how viruses work.
Instead, he tried to turn these immunological terms to protection based ones, such as ‘serotype’ and ‘immunological protection’.
One of the key points of Zinkernagel’s presentation was that immunological memory does not equal to protection. Immunological memory, he said, is provided by a “pre-existing titer that fits with specific conditions”, also known as antibody concentration.
However, they merely provide protection for a certain amount of time, as they gradually diminish in concentration. Usually, protection lasts up to 20-25 years, after which, we begin to experience immunity problems.
According to Dr. Zinkernagel, this is also an example of natural selection, as the “immune system protects from infection during the period of key evolution.”
Dr. Zinkernagel also addressed our current difficulties in finding an effective solution to the major problem presented by HIV.
The main issue is that we are unsuccessful in developing a vaccine for HIV, as the “high variability is a problem we haven’t been able to solve”, he said, and proposed that we should perhaps look into developing a “multi component type of vaccine”, which merges together all the possible forms of HIV into one vaccine.
When asked what he wished to achieve in delivering this keynote speech, Dr. Zinkernagel responded that he wishes to emphasize to everyone the distinction between immunological memory and protection, stressing that “you need periodical re-exposure throughout life that trains the immune system to keep up high enough antibody concentrations for protection”.
Professor Jiunn-Jong Wu, the Director of the NCKU CIDSR, was also in attendance at the symposium and said that he was “happy to arrange the symposium during the period of NCKU’s 82nd anniversary”, and hoped that the symposium will challenge and inspire students in attendance, as the topic of immunity and viruses is a very important one.
It is also a “very good opportunity for collaboration” with Japan, Wu added, and he believed that co-partnership will improve in the future.
Enditem/Wan-ling Yi
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