Progress 07/01/07 to 06/30/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The funds for the project were used to support travel of scientists and students working with large animal models to the 27th, 28th and 29th Annual Meetings of the American Society for Reproductive Immunology (ASRI). Each year, four to seven speakers who use large animal models of reproductive immunology or reproductive biology were invited to give papers at the meeting. In addition, travel grants of $500 were made available to 5 graduate students working with large animal models to attend the meeting. Each speaker was invited to write a paper for publication in American Journal of Reproductive Immunology. Availability of travel grants was advertised in tbe American Journal of Reproductive Immunology and other journals, on the ASRI website and by various mass emailings. PARTICIPANTS: Peter J Hansen and Charu Kasuhic were PIs on the grant. However, the American Society for Reproductive Immunology was a partner organization adn a large number of scientists were involved each year in planning the meeting. For example, the 2008 meeting (28th) included the following on the Scientific Organizing Committee: Luborsky, Judy, Ph.D., Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Rush Medical Center, Chicago, IL; Abrahams, Vikki, Ph.D., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yale University School of Medicine; Ahlering, Peter, M.D., St Louis Women's Health Care Group, St. Louis, MO; Brown, Mary, Ph.D., Dept. of Pathobiology, University of Florida, Gainesville; Cooper, Morris, PhD. Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL; Hansen, Peter J. Ph.D., Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville Kaushic, Charu, Ph.D., Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Koyama, Koji , M.D., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nishinomiya, Japan. Kwak-Kim, Joanne, M.D., Women's Health Center, Chicago Medical School, North Chicago, IL; Lee, Stephanie, Executive Secretary, ASRI Mor, Gil, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Ott, Troy, PhD. Animal and Veterinary Sciences Department, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID Sharma, Surendra M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pediatrics, Brown University, Women and Infant's Hospital of RI, Providence, RI.; Wira, Charles R. PhD. Department of Physiology, Dartmouth Medical School, NH Each year 5-7 scientists gave presentations at the meeting and 5 graduate students received travel grants. For example, in 2007 (27th Annual Meeting), the speakers were Troy Ott, University of Idaho, Hormonal regulation of antiviral proteins; Ina Dobrinski, University of Pennsylvania, Germ cell transplantation; Allan King, University of Guelph, Sex related embryo development; Marc-Andre Sirard, Universite Laval, Expression of genes in oocyte maturation and embryo development; and Anne Croy, Queens University, NK cells in pregnancy. Students receiving travel grants received various training opportunities including presenting posters and papers, attending lectures, informal interactions with faculty, and attendance at the banquet. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audiences were 1) the biomedical scientific community and 2) the agricultural scientitic community. The goal was for biomedical scientists to obtain a better understanding of large animal research models and for agricultural scientists to better understand the importance of the immune system for fertility and reproductive health. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The specific goal of the proposal is to foster the continued development of reproductive immunology based on species of agricultural importance. It is important for the field of reproductive immunology to have strong participation by animal and veterinary scientists because many issues of concern in animal production and veterinary medicine are also of interest in human medicine. Also, animal models serve as important tools to examine immune mechanisms that are difficult to examine directly in humans and can lead to conclusions that can be extrapolated to humans as well. Most importantly, the status of immune system in the reproductive tract is important for ensuring optimal health and fertility of domestic animals. The continued investment in the Annual Meeting of the ASRI by the USDA has had the outcome of generating a broad realization of the importance of large animal models for the field of reproductive immunology. Officers in the ASRI continue to include large animal scientists and topics based on research using domestic animals continues to be an important part of the Annual Meeting of the ASRI. The 32st Annual Meeting is chaired by a veterinary scientist, Chris Davies. Moreover, the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology published an entire issue (October 2010) devoted to large animal models of reproductive immunology. The career of Dr. Davies can illustrate the usefulness of the USDA funding. As one of the speakers at the ASRI, his work on regulation of bovine histocompatability antigens on the placenta became widely recognized in the research community. In part because of this visibility and the recognition that the cow was a good model to study histocompatability antigens on the placenta, Dr. Davies was able to obtain an NIH grant in excess of $1,000,000 to fund his research. Thus funding for the ASRI meeting has lead to the outcome of fostering the joint USDA-NIH effort to fund research that has dual applications for animal production and biomedical science.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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