DAY OF IMMUNOLOGY 2008
Dear All,Great events are often foreshadowed. We will celebrate the fourth Day of Immunology (DoI) this year. This exceptional event caught the attention of thousands of people during the last three years and was matched by an equivalent increase in public awareness of the importance of immunology.
We have witnessed spectacular performances in places all over the world with more activity in Europe due to its European foundation in 2005. Last year, the first international DoI was held. As scientists, we want to share our findings with the public. Therefore, both EFIS and IUIS hope that you are as creative as DoI participants of the past three years. We are eager to learn about your projects and ideas for this year's DoI and would be delighted to answer questions and supply resource material (please contact Ahmed Sheriff at the EFIS office sheriff@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de). EFIS also offers a DoI homepage (http://www.efis.org) where we hope to post links to your projects.
During previous DoIs, spectacular performances have been organized, such as the T-B cell games in historic Freiburg, Germany as well as the cooperation of the German Self-help Association Hereditary Immunodeficiencies (DSAI) with the Immunology Department at the Medical University in Hannover (MHH). Many interesting seminars were held in schools around the world, all of which received highly positive responses from pupils and their teachers.
Since 2001, Reinhard Nestelbacher in Salzburg, Austria has been introducing cutting-edge immunological education for schools with the "Immunological Classroom", the "Flying Lab", and "Children and Allergy Research". Nestelbacher and partners (Fatima Ferreira and Konrad Steiner) provide a superb website (http://www.ursprung.at/ ursprung/projekte_extern/allergie_end/default.htm and http://www.allergietage.at), which include documentation of the courses. Their efforts have attracted tens of thousands of people and won our DoI prize in 2006.
Let us follow in their footsteps.
Contact:
Dr. Ahmed Sheriff
European Federation of Immunological Societies EFIS - office
Max-Planck-Institute for Infection Biology
Campus Charité Mitte
Charitéplatz 1
10117 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 28460 279
Fax: +49 30 28460 270
doi@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de