This previous Friday we had members of The Kast Lab attend and participate in the 5th annual Immunology LA conference! Joseph Skeate and Julia Taylor both presented work during the day, and Dr. Kast chaired the session on Translational Immunology and Immunotherapy.
Joseph was one of 12 individuals throughout the 
day that was selected to give an oral presentation. He took the stage and highlighted one of the ongoing translational projects that is being carried out within the lab. Specifically, he showed the attendee’s how we are taking steps to overcome HPV-mediated immune suppression in patients that are unable to clear ongoing or persistent infections naturally with a Toll-Like Receptor 3 agonist.
“We believe that by alerting the local antigen-presenting cells of the epithelium, Langerhans cells, we can illicit an adaptive immune response to HPV and give individuals who have a persistent infection a chance to clear the virus before it becomes an HPV-driven cancer.” – Excerpt from Joseph’s talk
Joseph ended his presentation by outlining our translational goal of testing this product in a phase I clinical trial in the near future.
During the poster session, Julia’s research was well received and highlighted the method in which we are using a similar TLR3 agonist to stimulate an immune response against the HPV in healthy individuals. She fielded questions from many researchers in attendance and did a fantastic job representing the lab.
“It was a great experience and we had fun. There’s a lot of cutting edge science in the immunology field that I was able to learn about and can hopefully incorporate into my own work soon.” Julia Taylor
This is the second year in a row that our lab has presented work at this conference. We believe it is vital to attend these events to not only tell other about our ongoing efforts, but learn about new and exciting work that is being done all over Los Angeles.
The Kast Lab personally thanks the organizers and the supporters that make Immunology LA happen each year.
Immunology LA is an annual meeting that hosts presentations of cutting-edge research from immunologists in the Los Angeles area, with the goal of fostering collaboration between local scientists. For more information visit their website at www.immunologyla.com