Building Community Through Innovative Discovery

New basic science research program will bring researchers together in 2024

Basic science is more relevant now than it ever has been to advancing clinical care for those living with allergic and immunological disease, according to Nora A. Barrett, MD, FAAAAI. “We’re at a point where we can take basic mechanisms and observations and apply it three days later to patient samples,” Dr. Barrett said. “The pace of discovery is accelerating rapidly.”

Dr. Barrett and Andrew L. Kau, MD, PhD, are the Chairs of the Basic Science Workgroup. While both of them have helped program basic science sessions at the AAAAI Annual Meeting, they wanted to find a way to bring together the basic science community into one place. With this in mind, they went on to develop a proposal to launch Discovery, a new program dedicated to basic science, at the 2024 AAAAI Annual Meeting.

Andrew L. Kau, MD, PhD

Dr. Kau explained that the idea behind Discovery is based equally on education and community. “I got interested in basic science research because I was excited to discover something new. It’s very cool to be the first to discover something concrete that can be used to help patients. The work basic scientists do can make a long-term difference, and by bringing this group together, we’ll not only grow our community, but also inspire young researchers to work in the basic science and translational research space.”

Discovery is a three-day experience, allowing leading investigators and rising stars in basic science research to come together to learn, network and grow. It will be held in-person alongside the 2024 AAAAI Annual Meeting and will feature cutting-edge basic science symposia and will include ample opportunities to network and showcase the work of junior investigators through selected short talks and poster sessions. It will not be available virtually.

“You can’t do science in a silo. New ideas come from being in the room with other researchers, where you can share ideas and techniques. Teamwork and community are what drives innovation.”

Nora A. Barrett, MD, FAAAAI

Bringing together a community of very dedicated basic science researchers focused in the area of type 2 immunity is something not being done elsewhere. These three days of education and networking will help attendees meet new researchers and leave with an understanding of where the field is going.

“There’s so many reasons we’re excited about this program and its theme for 2024,” said Dr. Barrett. “With the advent of advanced sequencing techniques and clinical therapeutics targeting type 2 cytokines and pathways, we have new and unparalleled opportunities to understand the role of type 2 inflammation in diverse settings from allergic disease to tissue homeostasis, infection, immune tolerance, immune exhaustion and cancer.”

When it comes to the program development, the chairs were quick to point out that the meeting wouldn’t exist at all without their existing community. The Basic Science Workgroup focused on identifying new discoveries that have been published in high quality publications over the last year to help put the sessions together. “This group did a lot of scouring. I’m so impressed by the work of The Basic Science Work Group to find this research,” said Dr. Kau. “This year we recruited additional people to cover different areas of immunology to help put together the program. It’s been a team effort that has already helped the basic science community grow.”

Registration for the Discovery Program will open in tandem with the AAAAI Annual Meeting registration this fall. Please note that Discovery Program sessions are not eligible for CME credit.

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