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AAAAI News: September 2007FIT CornerSeafood, sunshine and scientific excellence at EAACI 2007 in Sweden I recently had the opportunity to attend the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Annual Meeting in Sweden from June 9-13. Being originally from Finland, it comes as no surprise that I was very excited to receive a travel grant from EAACI to attend the annual EAACI Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden as an AAAAI Fellow-in-Training Committee representative. The Congress was held at the "Svenska Messan," or the Convention Center, which is conveniently located about 20 minutes by foot outside of the city center. Upon arriving, I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the conference bag, which was a roller bag that transformed into a backpack in just seconds. Only Scandinavians would think to include a matching umbrella in the registration packet, though we did not need to use it since the temperatures held steadily in the 30s (or above 90° F). The scientific program began on Saturday morning with postgraduate courses. During the coffee break, I had the opportunity to discuss the oral immunotherapy experiences in person with Paolo Meglio, MD, from Italy. The day of presentations was followed by the Junior Members and Affiliates (JMA) poster session, as well as the Opening Ceremony in the Convention Center, which included traditional Swedish music and a mouthwatering fish buffet. Sunday morning started off with interesting presentations about Bet v 1 homologues and the relevance of sequential epitopes on food allergens and allergenic potential. The afternoon session discussion centered around the potential allergenicity of novel foods and the impact of food processing on allergenicity. The following two days included a plenary symposium in celebration of "40 years of IgE," co-chaired by the master himself, S.G.O Johansson, MD, PhD, FAAAAI, from Sweden. Other lecture topics included the role of nutritional factors on allergy prevention, the impact of cross-reactivity on in vitro diagnosis of food allergy, and the threshold values for food proteins. Additionally, presentations on what makes an allergen an allergen, using bioinformatics to understand cross-reactivity, mechanisms of tolerance to allergens, and strategies of specific immunotherapy gave me new perspectives. On the last evening of the conference, I had one more tasty dinner of local fish with friends and colleagues from Finland. That night, the midnight sun never went to sleep, although I did because I had to continue my trip to Finland early the next morning. Upon leaving Gothenburg, my suitcase was filled with Swedish chocolate and my mind was thrilled about the new contacts I made and the old ones I reconnected with at the EAACI Congress. The city of Gothenburg, Sweden was a beautiful venue to host the festivities and scientific program of the 2007 EAACI Congress. It will be a challenge for the Organizing Committee of the 2008 conference (which will be held in Barcelona) to make theirs as equally successful. The AAAAI FIT Committee encourages all FITs to get involved. We meet in person once a year, in conjunction with the Annual Meeting, but we use conference calls and e-mail throughout the year for planning and coordination. If you have ideas, energy and constructive suggestions, please contact FIT Committee Chair Amy M. Dowden, MD, at amy-dowden@uiowa.edu, or Katie Muellenbach at the AAAAI executive office at kmuellenbach@aaaai.org.
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