Introduction to the work of the CIMT Immunoguiding Program ("CIP")
The CIMT Immunoguiding Program is a working group founded in February 2005 under the aegis of the Association for Immunotherapy of Cancer ("CIMT"). The main objective of CIP is to establish high quality immunomonitoring assays in order to guide the development of new immune therapeutics on basis of immunological outcomes.With this aim, CIP organizes large proficiency panels to reach quality control and harmonization of commonly applied T-cell assays across institutions. CIP is covering educational aspects by organizing scientific sessions at the annual CIMT meeting, workshops, and practical courses and by publishing new insights in peer-review journals. Currently, the network comprises 26 actively participating members across Europe and a growing number of labs have expressed their interest in participating in upcoming proficiency panels. CIP cooperates with groups and institutions that share similar aims and receives support from the Wallace Coulter Foundation (Miami, Florida, USA).
Perspectives of the workgroup
The members of the CIMT Immunoguiding Program are dedicated to:- Establish a group of professional developers and users in order to exchange techniques, protocols and reagents and to critically discuss results obtained by our laboratory panels
- Organize further interlaboratory testing projects in order to compare various techniques, variables and local protocols for measuring antigen-specific T cells
- Share experience with other scientists and working groups that work in the field of immune monitoring (cooperation with the Cancer Vaccine Consortium of the Sabin Vaccine Institute)
- Advise in the monitoring of T cell responses in clinical studies, including help for training of staff members
- Organize extra-sessions with focus on immunomonitoring during the annual CIMT meetings. International speakers will be invited to present recent developments in the field
CIP committee
The CIP committee is chaired by C. Britten (Mainz, Germany), C. Gouttefangeas (Tübingen, Germany) and S. van der Burg (Leiden, the Netherlands) who are responsible for coordinating and directing the CIP. The CIP activities are managed by a committee of 5 members: |
Cedrik M. Britten, MD III. Medical Department University Medical Center Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz Mainz, Germany Email: britten@uni-mainz.de |
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Sjoerd H. van der Burg, PhD Department for Clinical Oncology Leiden University Medical Center Leiden, The Netherlands Email: shvdburg@lumc.nl |
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Cecile Gouttefangeas, PhD Department of Immunology University of Tuebingen Tuebingen, Germany Email: cecile.gouttefangeas@uni-tuebingen.de |
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Marij J. P. Welters, PhD Department for Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion Leiden University Medical Center Leiden, The Netherlands Email: M.J.P.Schoenmaekers-Welters@lumc.nl |
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Christian Ottensmeier, MD PhD Department of Medical Oncology Southampton University Hospitals Southampton, United Kingdom Email: C.H.Ottensmeier@soton.ac.uk |
