43rd NSI Annual Meeting and General Assembly 2025 awards

Thanks to all the attendees for making our 43rd Annual Meeting such a great event! Also, thanks to our sponsors for joining with great and entertaining booths (AH Diagnostics, ChemoMetec, Stemcell, ThermoFisher, Immudex, BD, BioNordika, Nordic Biosite, ParseBiosciences)! We hope all of you had a good time and enjoyed both the scientific talks and the dinner afterwards!

Congratulations to all the winners of the competitions and thank you all for participating! Unfortunately, this year we have not awarded Per Brandzæg’s Travel Grant, as there were no applicants. Remember to apply next year!

Best poster award:
Klara Krpina (poster title: Ovarian Cancer )

Best talk award:
Kristin Lunder Klausen (talk title: Impaired Germinal Center Dynamics in mice following Influenza Vaccination during Diet-Induced Obesity. )

Per Brandzæg’s Travel Grant:
No applicants in 2025

NSI research award:
Rasmus Iversen and Julie Elisabeth Heggelund (article title: Enzyme-activating B-cell receptors boost antigen presentation to pathogenic T cells in gluten-sensitive autoimmunity)

See all of you next year!

43rd NSI Annual Meeting and General Assembly 2025 Program is Finally Here!

Dear NSI members,
I hope you have all now registered for the 43rd NSI Annual Meeting and General Assembly! Please find the program attached.

program_nsi_annual_meeting_2025.docx (2)Download

Date: Friday, November 28, 2025
Time: 9.00 to 22.00
Location: Store Auditorium, Domus Medica
In you have not yet registered, or paid for dinner (200kr), please do so before Nov 24: https://nettskjema.no/a/541803

This year, we will in addition to the NSI Annual Meeting on Nov 28, organize workshops the day before on Nov 27. These workshops are centered on technical training and education, and we think the topics covered will be of broad general interest to immunologists.

Date: Thursday, November 27, 2025
Time: 14.30-17.30 (followed by pizza and drinks)

Program at a glance:
Workshop 1: Tips and tricks for conventional and spectral flow cytometry: How to optimize workflows to maximize biological resolution (Thermo Fisher Scientific)
Workshop 2: Navigating Single-Cell Technology Choices and High-Dimensional Flow Cytometry (BD)
Workshop 3: CARving the way – Solutions for CAR Engineered Cell Characterization (Bionordica)

Please see more details of the program and topics to be covered here.

Travel grants:
Please note the availability of four (4) travel grants (NOK 3000 each) available for persons from outside of Oslo*. A successful candidate must have submitted an abstract for the NSI Annual meeting. Please email your application (including submitted abstract) to: Cecilia Fahlquist-Hagert (Cecilia.fahlquist-hagert@ncmbm.uio.no).
*Please note that the travel grants will cover travels within Norway only.

Welcome!

43rd NSI Annual Meeting Pre-event: Methods in Immunology Workshop

Dear all,
Please save time for the Pre-event of the NSI Annual Meeting. In brief, we will host workshops on Nov 27 that are centered on technical training and education, and we think the topics covered will be of broad general interest to immunologists.

Date: Thursday, November 27, 2025
Time: 14.30-17.30 (followed by pizza and drinks)
Venue: Room A2.2068 , Dep. of Immunology, Rikshospitalet (will be signs from Store Aud, Domuc Medica)

Program at a glance:
Workshop 1: Tips and tricks for conventional and spectral flow cytometry: How to optimize workflows to maximize biological resolution (Thermo Fisher Scientific)
Workshop 2: Navigating Single-Cell Technology Choices and High-Dimensional Flow Cytometry (BD)
Workshop 3: CARving the way – Solutions for CAR Engineered Cell Characterization (Bionordica)

Please see more details of the program and topics to be covered attached.

Program-PreEvent-Nov27Download

NSI presents Norwegian group leaders: Anette Bøe Wolff

Dear NSI members,

It’s our pleasure to invite you to our next online seminar in the series “NSI presents Norwegian group leaders”. Professor Anette Bøe Wolff (Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital) will give a presentation on Autoimmunity in Focus: From genetic risk to disease mechanisms and monitoring through biobanks and OMICS.

Please save the time on Wednesday November 26 from 13:00-14:00.

Welcome!

Meeting details:
Speaker: Anette Bøe Wolff
Title: Autoimmunity in Focus: From genetic risk to disease mechanisms and monitoring through biobanks and OMICS
Time and date: Wednesday, November 26 at 13:00
Meeting link: https://uib.zoom.us/j/64494465342?pwd=ADfyGj9cBs31cwR8wx0jyaGdYaaFHP.1

NSI Rising Star Seminar: Annika Hausmann

In our next NSI Rising Star Seminar, we will be hosting Annika Hausmann (PhD, SNSF Ambizione Group Leader at ETH Zürich, Switzerland) with a talk on “Intestinal mucosal crosstalk in health and disease”. Look forward to seeing you there!

Meeting details:
Speaker: Annika Hausmann
Title: Intestinal mucosal crosstalk in health and disease
Time and date: Thursday, October 23 at 14.00
Meeting link: https://nmbu.zoom.us/j/64750670957?pwd=hTwb6wMcWKqlHbbJetlhSSuT97WGWH.1

Talk abstract:
The intestinal mucosa forms an integral barrier between our bodies and the outside world. Being exposed to a huge variety of metabolites and microbes taken up with our food or stably colonizing the intestine, it is permeable for essential nutrients while serving as a protective barrier to prevent microbial translocation. A tight balance between the intestinal epithelium, immune cells in the underlying tissue and the intestinal microbiota present in the lumen maintains intestinal homeostasis. The impairment of this balance can trigger disease, such as infection, metabolic disorders, and chronic inflammation (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease). Our work focuses on understanding how these key players interact to maintain intestinal homeostasis, with a special interest in the intestinal epithelium. The intestinal epithelium is in direct contact with the microbiota colonizing the intestinal lumen (e.g. sensing via pattern recognition receptors, uptake of metabolites), yet we know little about the molecular basis of epithelium-microbiota crosstalk and the impact of commensal bacteria on epithelial barrier function. We make use of state-of-the-art in vivo and advanced organoid-based in vitro models, (single cell) omics techniques and bioengineering approaches, to map mucosal cellular crosstalk and dissect the underlying molecular mechanisms in mouse and human.

More information about Annika Hausmann:
Annika studied Molecular Medicine in Bonn and Freiburg (DE). She trained in Zurich (CH) and Copenhagen (DK) in mucosal immunology, host-microbe interactions and epithelial repair mechanisms in intestinal inflammation.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_mySy_0AAAAJ&hl=eng

Key papers: 
1. Intercrypt sentinel macrophages tune antibacterial NF-κB responses in gut epithelial cells via TNF
2. Sublethal systemic LPS in mice enables gut-luminal pathogens to bloom through oxygen species-mediated microbiota inhibition

Seminar on vaccination and humoral immunity

Dear all,
Norwegian Society for Immunology (NSI) together with Precision Immunotherapy Alliance (PRIMA) welcome you to a seminar on vaccination and humoral immunity, Monday October 27 from 13.00.
Place:  Runde Auditorium (Domus Medica)
Light refreshments will be served.

13:15-14.00
Jenna Guthmiller, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, USA. https://guthmillerlab.weebly.com
“Harnessing Humoral Immunity for Next Generation Influenza Vaccines”

14:00-14:30 Gunnveig Grødeland, PhD, Professor, Department of Immunology, Oslo University Hospital, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Centre for Pandemics and One-Health Research, University of Oslo, Norway.
“Vaccination for a diverse population”

14:30-15:00: Johanne Tracey Jacobsen, Associate Professor, Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway.
“Germinal Center guided development of therapeutic antibodies”

For more information: 
https://www.prima.uio.no/english/news-and-events/events/2025/seminar-on-vaccination-and-humoral-immunity-.html

NSI is finally on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/@norwegianimmunology!
Here you can find recordings from Immunologiens Dag (2022-25) (in Norwegian) and starting from this year, recordings from NSI Rising Star Seminars and NSI presents Norwegian group leaders (in english).
So, watch, like and share!

NSI er endelig på Youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/@norwegianimmunology!
Her finner du opptak fra Immunologiens Dag (2022-25) (på norsk), og fra og med i år også opptak fra NSI Rising Star Seminars og NSI presenterer norske gruppeledere (på engelsk).
Så se, lik og del!

43rd NSI Annual Meeting and General Assembly 2025 registration is now open!

Registration and abstract submissions are now open – https://nettskjema.no/a/541803!

Date: Friday, November 28, 2025
Time: 9.00 to 22.00
Location: Store Auditorium (NB! change in the usual location), Domus Medica
Registration:https://nettskjema.no/a/541803

Deadlines
Poster abstract to be considered for short talk deadline: October 17 (submission after deadline will only be posters)
Poster abstract deadline: November 7, 2025
Dinner fee deadline (200 NOK): November 23, 2025 
Registration deadline: November 24, 2025

Dinner information etc. can be found in the Nettskjema link above.
A finalized program will be sent once the short talk speakers have been determined.

We are looking for NSI members to replace two board members. Please contact current board for more information, or to nominate candidates.

NEW: This year we will try to organize one or more workshops on relevant topics in the afternoon of Nov 27. If you are traveling from outside of Oslo, we therefore encourage you to plan your travels so that you can attend the workshops starting about 15.00 on Nov 27.

Travel grants
Four travel grants (NOK 3000 each) will be awarded to non-Oslo attendees. A successful candidate must have an abstract as first author for the NSI annual meeting. Please email your application (including abstract) to: Cecilia Fahlquist-Hagert – Cecilia.fahlquist-hagert@ncmbm.uio.no.
Deadline: Nov 10, 2025

Prizes and awards:
We are seeking nominations for several prizes: 

NSI Publication Award: Given to the 1st author(s) of an outstanding original scientific paper in the field of immunology. Please send nominations to Gunnveig Grødeland (gunnveig.grodeland@medisin.uio.no). Read more here.
Deadline: October 13, 2025

Per Brandtzæg’s Travel Grant: Travel grant to support international travel for postdoc in the field of immunology (mucosal immunology will be prioritized). Please send your application to Silke Appel (silke.appel@uib.no). Read more here.
Deadline: October 13, 2025

We look forward to a great meeting and dinner!

NSI Rising Star Seminar: Mohamed Abdel Hakeem

In our next NSI Rising Star Seminar, we will be hosting Mohamed Abdel Hakeem (PhD, Assistant Professor at Emory University) with a talk on “Dissecting T cell differentiation”. Look forward to seeing you there!

Meeting details:
Speaker: Mohamed Abdel Hakeem
Title: Dissecting T cell differentiation
Time and date: Wednesday, September 24 at 10:00
Meeting link: https://uio.zoom.us/j/66789985517?pwd=tk0ISk0WVqj6asOCpM2E35a8N5UJqb.1

Talk abstract:
Hakeem Lab at Emory Vaccine Center continues to focus on dissecting the molecular programs of T cells in chronic settings, with the overarching goal of developing next-generation immunotherapies and enhancing vaccine responses. For these aims, Hakeem Lab utilized novel approaches, for example, performing the first in vivo proteomic and phosphoproteomic profiling of T cell exhaustion. Also, exploring the impact of preexisting chronic disease on memory immune responses to subsequent acute stimuli.

More information about Mohamed Abdel Hakeem:
Mohamed Abdel Hakeem is an Assistant Professor at Emory, following a Postdoc training at the University of Pennsylvania, after an M.Sc. and a PhD at Université de Montréal. Throughout his research journey, he studied differentiation of immune cells, with a focus on T cells, especially in chronic settings. He co-authored more than 30 manuscripts representing studies in animal models and using human samples in various scientific journals, including Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, Journal of Science Immunology, PLOS Pathogens, and PNAS, where he also serves as a reviewer.
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z_ndQb8AAAAJ&hl=en

Key papers: 
1. Epigenetic scarring of exhausted T cells hinders memory differentiation upon eliminating chronic antigenic stimulation.
2. Selective expansion of high functional avidity memory CD8 T cell clonotypes during hepatitis C virus reinfection and clearance

Inger Sandlie and Bjarne Bogen become Knight Commanders, and lecture by David Nemazee

Dear NSI members,

We are happy to invite you to an event where Professor David Nemazee will give a lecture on Blocking plasma cell differentiation enhances tumor immunity, followed by the appointment of honorary NSI members Inger Sandlie and Bjarne Bogen as Knight Commanders (1st Class) of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for their outstanding work in medical research and innovation.

Date: Thursday, October 16 at 14:00
Place: Runde auditorium, Domus Medica

Program:
14.00-14.45 Lecture by Professor David Nemazee: Blocking plasma cell differentiation enhances tumor immunity

David Nemazee is internationally recognized for his seminal work on B cell tolerance. The talk will be on his recent work in tumor immunology, published in Nature Communications 2025 (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59622-4). David Nemazee is professor at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. He has strong connections to Norwegian immunology

14.45-15.00 Break

15.00-16.00 Appointment of Bjarne Bogen and Inger Sandlie as Knight Commanders (1st Class) of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav

NOTE: The ceremony is in Norwegian. Preregistration by 25th Sept is required for the appointment ceremony and following reception: https://nettskjema.no/a/544297

16.00-19.00 Reception with light food and beverages at Café Erik, outside Runde Auditorium

Welcome!