Autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases result from complex interplay of genetic, environmental, and immunological factors and affect millions of people worldwide. Advances in genetics, disease modeling and immune monitoring are helping scientists identify effective drug targets. However, treatment decisions are still based on clinical phenotypes that may not reflect the underlying molecular heterogeneity of disease. Doctors must use “trial and error” to find something that works, which can delay recovery, contribute to cumulative tissue damage and inflate health care costs.

This meeting will bring together a multidisciplinary group of experts in basic science, translational research, and clinical medicine to collectively address challenges in the field. The program will explore:

1. Basic mechanisms of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, spanning nucleic acid sensing-dependent inflammation, to innate and adaptive immune cells, to multi-cellular platforms and tissues.

2. Systems biology and immune monitoring approaches towards patient stratification and disease-specific target identification.

3. Novel organoid and murine models of disease to facilitate pre-clinical studies,

4. The latest approaches to design and deliver effective and safe targeted therapies.

This meeting aims to generate new scientific knowledge and foster collaborations towards developing quality preclinical research models, recognizing disease subtypes, identifying biomarkers for early diagnosis and selecting targeted treatments, all of which remain significant challenges. These goals can only be accomplished by integrating expertise across basic and clinical perspectives, and this meeting will catalyze these discussions, collaborations and novel research directions.