Spanish Immunology on the move - Wiley Online Library

1580

FORUM

Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: 1580–1583

News & EFIS Spanish Immunology on the move The Spanish Society for Immunology (SEI) was founded in December 1975 by a group of immunologists working in hospitals, research institutes and universities. SEI will be celebrating its 40th anniversary by the end of this year with a special Inmunolog´ıa (SEI’s journal) number, and more activities to come in 2016, including a special celebration of the international day of Immunology (DOI) and devoted activities in the national meeting to be held in Alicante. The aim of the SEI is to promote immunology, by supporting the interaction between its members and other scientists, contributing to training in immunology (i.e. courses, meetings, teaching material . . . ) and defending the scientific interests and rights of its members. To date, SEI comprises around 800 members. SEI’s logo (Fig. 1) was designed in 1989, and it is inspired in the famous painter Joan Mir´ o. Joan Mil´ a, a SEI member, is the author of the logo, which was selected in Mallorca during the 15th SEI meeting. SEI joined the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) in 1978 and the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) in 1980. SEI has permanent representatives in other international organizations, such as EFI (European Federation of Immunogenetics), EBTI (European Board of Transplant Immunology) which is part of the UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists), or Orphanet. SEI is as well a member of the most relevant national organizations, i.e. the National Commission for Immunology (which regulates immunology training in hospitals), the Spanish Society for Transplantation or Aenor (which regulates the normalization procedures for diagnostic laboratories). SEI also has close contact with other immunological societies, for example those from Argentina, Brasil, Mexico, Cuba and Portugal.

SEI and clinical immunology

Figure 1. SEI’s logo represents a cell with several transmembrane proteins, one of which is bound by an antibody (tan) recognizing a red epitope.

SEI is a mixture of professional profiles, most of them doing research at the Research Council or at other research Institutes. Many SEI members are also involved in clinical immunology as certified immunologists at hospitals and/or are faculty members at universities teaching immunology. The SEI national meeting is held annually in one of the 17 different autonomous communities in Spain, except triennially, when the European Congress of Immunology (ECI) takes place. For instance this year, as ECI will take place in September in Vienna (http://www.eci-vienna2015.org), no SEI annual meeting is scheduled [1]. Three local Spanish immunology societies are strongly active and hold close links with SEI: Societat Catalana d’Immunologia (SCI, Catalan Society), Sociedad de Inmunolog´ıa de la Comunidad de Madrid (SICAM) and Sociedad Valenciana de Inmunolog´ıa (SVI). The Catalan Society won the most original 2013 Day of Immunology (DOI) award for their innovative “Run for Immunology” and “Gymkhana” activities (2). SEI has an official journal, Inmunolog´ıa, which was launched in 1982 and was several years indexed in Medline. Inmunolog´ıa has developed now into a web-based journal (Journal website: http://www.inmun ologia.org/revista/home.html), partly because of limited resources.

C 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Immunology departments were created in Spanish hospitals in the early seventies, and spread throughout our National Health System in the following two decades. Given that in Spain, immunology is considered a health specialty and that Spanish hospital residents are trained to develop laboratory skills, clinical consultancy and direct care of patients with immunological diseases, SEI is actively involved in the national immunology resident training program by nominating two of the eleven members of the National Commission for Immunology among its members. These two members are SEI’s voice in governmental bodies involved in resident training nationwide. SEI also aims to improve the standard of health care provided to patients with immune-mediated diseases by promoting clinical research. To this end, SEI has sponsored mixed working groups containing both basic and clinical immunologists, such as those in the fields of autoimmunity, immunochemistry, immunodeficiency, immunotherapy and histocompatibility, in which collaborative initiatives in clinical immunology research are undertaken. The groups are fully interdisciplinary, including other relevant experts such as allergologists, hematologists, oncologists, rheumatologists, pediatricians, nephrologists or neurologists, as we are aware of the importance of collaborative efforts when manipulation of the immune system has become an important tool for many different experts. As an example, this year we are launching of a platform including neurologists and immunologists expert in multiple sclerosis from 20 university hospitals that will collaborate to identify new biomarker to achieve a personalized therapy in the disease.

www.eji-journal.eu

FORUM

Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: 1580–1583

To disseminate new advances in immunology of interdisciplinary interest, SEI coordinates a series of monographs on immunological aspects of the diagnosis or therapy of cancer, transplantation, immunodeficiency and autoimmunity, and a basic guide for awareness of primary immunodeficiencies among pediatricians. The first monograph will be published later this year (“Monitorizaci´ on inmunol´ ogica de la inmunoterapia del cancer”), and a second one (“Diagn´ ostico y monitorizaci´ on inmunol´ ogica de las inmunodeficiencias primarias y secundarias”) by June 2016 (Elsevier Edit.). SEI hosts the National Registry of Primary Immunodeficiences (PIDs), a collaborative effort of clinicians caring for PID patients in Spain. In addition, SEI is one of the Spanish government health advisors, providing relevant expert reports i.e. during the recent Spanish Ebola crisis. SEI is also concerned with the quality control of immunological tests and with the rigorous development of new diagnostic and prognostic procedures. To this end, we support annual workshops about histocompatibility, immunochemistry, cellular immunology and autoimmunity. In addition, in 2011 SEI launched GECLID, an external proficiency test (EPT) quality control program for immunology laboratories, with participation of almost 120 diagnostic centers in Spain, Portugal and South America.

SEI and academic immunology Immunology is now taught in over 50 universities throughout Spain by around 200 academics to undergraduate and graduate medicine, pharmacy, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, veterinary sciences, nursing, and nutrition students. By supervising their quality, SEI supports academic books and web-based apps in Spanish on basic immunology, which are valued in Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Immunopills, as an example, (http://www.inmunologia.org/ educacion/inmunopildoras.php) are short YouTube videos for graduate students which have had more than half a million views within the past 18 months. SEI supports Immunology PhD students during training with annual meetings and grants to promote attendance to national and international meetings. SEI also stimulates interactions with biotechnology companies established in

Spain, as shown recently at the Biospain 2014 meeting (Santiago, September 24– 26).

SEI and immunology research Through meetings and grants, SEI very actively supports research activities and interaction among immunologists by holding meetings and providing grants for attending these meetings. This contributes to increasing the quality and awareness of immunology groups, as evidenced by the increasing number and impact of articles published from Spain Table 1). SEI has supported thematic workshops organized by its members, such as the “3rd Madrid meeting on dendritic cells and macrophages” (April 28-19, 2014), the “First translational forum on cancer immunotherapy” (Sevilla, March 13–14, 2015), or the “Toll 2015 meeting” (Marbella, Sept 30–October 3, 2015). Attendance to international meetings is a critical aspect of the consolidation of the scientific careers of young immunologists. SEI funds the registration fees of young members attending national and international immunology meetings, as much as its budget can afford. We organize one national immunology meeting every year with an average attendance of 400 immunologists. The last national meeting held in Badajoz (8–10 May, 2014) incorporated innovative sections that were very successful in facilitating interaction between young and senior scientists, such as “Have a coffee with the speaker,” where young people had the opportunity to discuss with invited speakers; and the section “Open discussions around posters,” where the poster authors could discuss with other researchers their latest scientific advances. SEI publishes its official online magazine Inmunolog´ıa (Fig. 2) every three months, with sections for the three main interests for immunologists: research, academic and clinical immunology. SEI also stimulates the creation of working groups on hot research topics, such as dendritic cells or antigen presentation, which together with those relevant to clinical lmmunology (autoimmunity, immunochemistry, immunodeficiency, immunotherapy and histocompatibility, see above), organize their own workshops, write reports on the SEI website, in Inmunolog´ıa and other scientific journals, and make surveys on topics related to health care and specific immunolog-


Figure 2. New outreaching leaflet (left) and online Inmunolog´ıa journal (right).

ical pathologies. These groups are also very active in the generation of transversal connections with other research organizations. To cite an instance, following the initiative of the immunotherapy group, SEI has signed an agreement with the Spanish Society for Medical Oncology to create connected working groups in the revolutionary topic of cancer immunotherapy.

Beyond immunologists Public outreach is one of the top priorities for SEI (2). To increase the immunology knowledge of the general public, we have created a network of “SEI ambassadors” around the country to promote local outreach activities, such as organisation of seminars to patient’s associations or general public, visits to primary and secondary schools to explain immunology, formation courses on immunology directed to secondary schools teachers, and contact with mass media. SEI ambassadors also serve as contacts with local and national media for expert opinions on immunology-related news, such as questions from patients, students, etc. As an example, in previous years, DOIwas celebrated in only a few cities; this year our ambassadors strongly expanded the number of cities and events more than 10fold (Fig. 3), including events such as Run for Immunology in Barcelona or Inmunorace in Madrid, many activities for children in around 20 cities, immunology seminars open to general public, teachers or secondary school pupils and even pub lectures such as “Your body defenses go out for beers” in Valladolid. SEI also sponsors talks, seminars and activities for the general public and particularly for children, such as:

r r

TV shows (“Para todos la 2” in TVE) radio interviews (“Among test tubes” in National Radio) www.eji-journal.eu

1581

1582

FORUM

Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: 1580–1583

Table 1. Increasing quantity and quality of Spanish immunology research in the last decades

Publications Citations

1973–1982

1983–1992

1993–2002

2003–2012

333 5769

5015 91815

22374 466279

39659 580548

To analyze quantity and quality of Spanish publications in the area of Immunology, we have performed an analysis in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science. We have quantified number of publications and citations to papers with affiliation "Spain" and area of research "Immunology".

r r r r

r r

r

newspaper articles (El Pa´ıs) coffee talks (“Science with chocolate”) pub talks (“Skeptics in the pub”) YouTube-based videos on Immunology for secondary school students (https://www.YouTube.com/playlist? list = PLSbo9kXA_LczFn2uGvkAti9lFBD meUKZw) A funny blog for children about the immune system (www.alymphslife. com) the Spanish translation and nationwide distribution to secondary schools and public libraries (3000 copies) of the EFIS-sponsored booklet “Your amazing immune system” (http://www. interactive-immunity.net/) the Spanish translation of the EFIS-sponsored web-based presen-

tation “Inside immunity”: (http://wp 12070603.server-he.de/es). Inmunolog´ıa devotes the main section of the journal to public outreach, mainly focused on patients’ associations, the general public, children and coordination of activities for outreach and fundraising. Indeed, SEI wants to foster general public fundraising for immunology research in Spain, for example through a future SEIsponsored Immunotherapy Foundation. To this end, we have requested, through EFIS, help from international societies experienced in fundraising for such projects. We are also very active on the internet, i.e. our new website (www.inmunologia. org), Facebook (https://www.facebook. com/SEinmunologia) or Twitter (https://

twitter.com/SEinmunologia). We even have, since 2013, a Wikipedia entry!

Challenges and proposals For clinical immunology, a recent challenge is a new legislation affecting the training for immunology residents, which we believe will strongly impair current healthcare standards for patients by reducing training time in laboratory Immunology and excluding direct patient care from the program. With the valuable expert support of EFIS’ president, Lorenzo Moretta, SEI has appealed to this new law. For academic immunology, a longterm challenge blunted by the economic crisis is increasing the teaching hours and

Figure 3. Collage showing the Jeffrey Modell Foundation-sponsored balloon release for immunodeficiencies and immunology workshops for children that were held along with scientific and outreaching seminars to celebrate the 2015 International Day of Immunology (DOI) in more than 20 cities across Spain.


www.eji-journal.eu

FORUM

Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: 1580–1583

number of immunology professors so we can remain competitive with similar disciplines, for instance microbiology, for a reasonable impact in biosciences and health sciences undergraduate programs. A second challenge is to internationalize our graduate and postgraduate immunology programs including English-only groups. For immunology research, the challenge is to overcome the current crisis which has notably reduced public funding. Therefore, we need to search for alternative sources of support for our scientists, particularly those quite early in their career who have just returned from abroad and are facing economically critical situations. To this end, professional structures for public engagement and fundraising, together with transversal structures with other relevant societies (such as those for oncologists, rheumatologists, etc) are required to reach the goal of a charity for funding, for example, focussed on immunotherapy research. We believe that EFIS and IUIS could help meet these challenges by providing (a) Connections with fundraisingexperienced immunology societies (b) More grants to support mobility and attendance of our young researchers to international meetings (c) Promotion of Spain as a venue for the organization of international immunology events. The scarce support provided to our young researchers strongly worries SEI. There are no specific programs from the European Research Council (ERC) for the convergence of less developed countries. Currently in Spain, if you are not awarded

an ERC Starting Grant, the alternative national funding you can get by getting the maximum qualification of your project proposal is around 40K€/year for 3 years, which is well under the career development awards that many great young scientists that do not achieve ERC funding are granted in many science-developed European countries. That creates a vicious circle, as fewer young researchers are “seeded” with competitive funding in Spain and this also reduces our excellence at the next level (e.g. Consolidators or Advanced). While completely supporting excellence programs in Europe, we propose an additional “convergence” program for Career Development Awards for excellent young researchers that are one step below the ERC Starting Grant, so they can continue their research in Europe. This proposed program should be open to any European country, but the key is that it should be incompatible with any other important source of national or international/public or private funding (e.g. over 100K€ per year). That way, it would favour opportunities for underfinanced excellent young researchers of any European country. We feel that convergence in research opportunities across Europe is important, because full mobility may depend on personal reasons, and if we want to exploit all of Europe’s talent we should offer similar opportunities across different countries. We believe EFIS could support our proposal by transmitting it to European research authorities. Lastly, a closer connection with industry is necessary-, although it is increasing through joint research projects (such as FEDER Innterconecta), biotech spin-offs from research teams and SEI meetings support.


In summary, despite limited resources, Spanish immunologists are quite active in all fields related to immunology (clinical, academic and research), all of which are increasing in terms of quantity and quality. Spanish immunologists are keen to participate in the international arena and contribute to the development of this fascinating science. And we are actively sharing SEI projects with the general public. The future looks brighter now. David Sancho1 , Luisa M. Villar2 , Jos´ e R. Regueiro3 and Bel´ en de Andr´ es4 1

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares “Carlos III”, CNIC, Madrid, Spain 2 Immunology Dpt., Ram´ on y Cajal University Hospital, Madrid, Spain. 3 Immunology Dpt., Complutense University School of Medicine, Madrid, Spain. 4 Centro Nacional de Microbiolog´ıa, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

References 1 Editorial. 2015 – The year of European Immunology. Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: i. 2 News & EFIS. Eur. J. Immunol. 2013. 43: 2524– 2525 3 Davis, D. M. Presenting the marvels of immunity. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 2014. 14: 351–353.

´ de Andres ´ Full correspondence: Belen e-mail: [email protected]

www.eji-journal.eu

1583