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2018 Milstein Travel Awards

View Photos of Milstein Awardees from Cytokines 2018 in Boston

Seymour Milstein (July 21, 1920 – October 2, 2001)

Seymour Milstein’s early insights into the critical importance of interferons led him to Sidney Pestka, M.D., one of the scientists at the forefront of interferon research and an active member of the former ISICR, and the Milstein family’s tradition of support for organizations dedicated to patient care and scientific research, motivated him and his wife Vivian to establish The Milstein Awards in 1988, two years after interferon was first approved for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia. Since that time, it has been widely recognized that interferons and the larger class of cytokines play critical roles in the development and progression of many major diseases including cancer, viral diseases such as hepatitis and influenza, and autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis and lupus.

The Milstein family also supports the Seymour & Vivian Milstein Award for Excellence in Interferon and Cytokine Research, which represents the pinnacle of scientific achievement in interferon and cytokine research since 1988, and the Milstein Young Investigator Awards to recognize the work of individuals who have made an impact on interferon and cytokine research early in their careers.

Philip, Vivian and Connie Milstein (L-R)

ICIS Awards Committee & Executive Committee distributing the Milstein Travel Awards at the ICIS Member’s Business Meeting at Cytokines 2018 in Boston.

The Milstein Travel Awards give those who may not otherwise be able to attend the Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS) an opportunity to come share and experience the most current interferon and cytokine knowledge with peers around from the world. Out of 159 applicants for 2018 Milstein Travel Awards, the ICIS Awards Committee chose the top ranking 87 presenters to receive 2018 Milstein Travel Awards, please browse the list below.

ICIS members who attend the Annual Meeting of the ICIS and submit a meeting abstract are eligible for Milstein Travel Awards, which are provided by a generous gift from the Milstein Family–Milstein’s son Philip continues to support this award. Milstein Travel Awards are granted based on the scientific merit of the abstract and financial necessity. Receipt of a Milstein Travel Award does not exempt payment of the registration fee. Please note that there are no age restrictions to this award. However, if both senior and junior members from the same laboratory apply for an award, preference is given to the junior member.

I am very grateful for having received the Milstein Travel Award. This travel funding by the Seymour and Vivian Milstein family will allow me to attend the 6th Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (ICIS). I feel that participating in this major conference will provide me with an excellent opportunity to present my current work, share research ideas, and network with knowledgeable researchers and colleagues in my field. I also believe that attending this conference will allow me to receive comments and suggestions from the pioneers on the subject that will further advance research in our field. Thank you again.

Odsuren Sukhbaatar

PhD Candidate, Division of Immunology, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Milstein Family for their generous support. Without their help, I won’t be able to attend the Cytokines 2018 and present my research data. The work I will be presenting is not published yet, so any feedback I receive at the conference would be valuable for future publications. On a personal note, as an early career researcher, I am trying to expand current as well as establish future collaborations.  I am confident that attending Cytokines 2018 with the support of the Milstein Travel Award will provide me networking opportunities and advance my career development towards being an independent researcher.

Ran Wang Ph.D.

Research Officer, Immunopathology Group, Mater Research at Translational Research Institute

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your immense generosity. It is people like you who drive forward scientific progress and innovation around the globe. Your generous gift is the reason I could attend this meeting to present my laboratory latest findings towards testing novel therapies for the treatment of fatal cytokine storm syndromes, especially in children. This opportunity enabled me to meet the most innovative scientists in the cytokine biology field, discuss the latest projects, and gain novel insights to drive our research forward.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

Sabrin Albeituni

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Being based in the UK, The Milstein Travel Award has played a huge role in me being able to attend Cytokines 2018 as has covered a substantial proportion of the costs involved with transatlantic travel to a conference. I attended Cytokines 2017 in Japan and found this conference highly relevant and informative in the field that I am in (mucosal macrophage immunology). Furthermore, as a new PI, it enabled me to establish networks with leaders in the field, several of which I am now collaborating with. Thus, being able to attend Cytokines 2018 will not only be an excellent opportunity to meet with collaborators that I met last year, but will also enable me to expand my knowledge about the most recent cutting edge research in the field. A large part of my research program involves the study of how the microbiota controls cytokine production from macrophages at mucosal sites. Therefore attending Cytokines 2018 will give me the opportunity to form networks with the eminent speakers at the conference who are at the forefront of mucosal and/or macrophage immunology and microbiota research (including Andrew McKenzie, Clare Lloyd, Greg Sonnenberg, Luke O’Neill, Brigitta Stockinger, Yasmine Belkaid and David Artis), which is critical to my research and career development.

Elizabeth Mann

Wellcome Trust and Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow, University of Manchester

I would like to thank the Seymour and Vivian Milstein Family for the generous support in terms of travel award to me for attending annual ICIS meeting. It is great honor to me present my research which focused on how regulatory T lymphocytes are modulated by interferon signaling in infectious diseases and cancer. This award will help me highlight the significance of my research to a broader immunology community apart from interferon and cytokine field. Thank you for this prestigious award.

Arunakumar Gangaplara

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

I truly appreciate the opportunity provided by the Milstein Travel Award to attend the annual ICIS meeting in Boston. As a young investigator, the Milstein Travel Award will allow me to offset the costs of attending the meeting and provide an invaluable opportunity to network with colleagues, present our findings, and receive extremely valuable feedback on our data. These points are essential for promotion of young investigators and establishment of new collaborative efforts. As the future of science, investment into further development of young investigators holds robust potential to pay off with significant future discoveries and eventually development of novel therapeutic approaches for the human kind at large. Thank you very much for supporting the science and providing the opportunities to young investigators.

Senad Divanovic, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Division of Immunobiology Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

I would like to thank the Seymour and Vivian Milstein family for their support in building a community of scientists focused on understanding cytokine biology. The Milstein Travel Award is an essential element for many young scientists to attend the annual ICIS meeting and meet future colleagues to further expand the scientific and clinical relevance of their work. I look forward to attending my first Cytokines 2018 conference in Boston, where I will be sharing my work on how Type 2 cytokines influence the composition and state of the epithelial barrier in human allergic disease. In particular, meeting the other Milstein Travel Award winners will certainly yield ideas for future projects and collaborative efforts to translate all of our findings towards therapeutic efforts.

Jose M Ordovas-Montanes

HHMI Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow, Shalek Lab @ MIT | Broad | Ragon

It is my great honor to receive the Milstein Travel Award from the International Cytokine & Interferon Society (ICIS). I appreciate the generosity of the Milstein Family for providing this wonderful Award.

I am an associate professor from Tianjin University. My research field is cytokines and their antagonists. More specifically, we focus on B Lymphocyte Stimulator (BLyS, also known as BAFF). Over-expression of this cytokine is related to autoimmune diseases. Therefore inhibition of this cytokine will improve the symptoms of autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), etc.

The Milstein Travel Award is great help for me, because the air tickets are expensive. I will use the travel award to cover my travel expensive and go to Boston. ICIS is a well known organization for our research and Cytokine2018 is the best conference to promote research and cooperation in these fields. Therefore, I have an opportunity to communicate with the leading scientists in the world, discuss my work and learn their achievements. By doing so, my research will be advanced and I will make my humble contribution to autoimmune diseases treatments.

Thanks again for your generous philanthropy in support of ICIS.

Jian Sun

Associate Professor Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Phamacology, School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University

I wish to sincerely thank the Milstein Family for their continued support of researchers such as myself to attend Cytokines 2018 and present our latest data. Attending and presenting at leading international conferences such as Cytokines 2018 represents an excellent opportunity to highlight and disseminate my research to the leaders in the field. It also provides the prospect to forge new collaborations, discuss and explore research and learn from others new directions and opportunities for your research. The generous support of the Milstein Family and their Travel Awards facilitate these opportunities for not only myself but many others attending the meeting and as such, are fundamentally making a significant contribution to enhancing and advancing Cytokine research internationally and providing a vibrant research environment.

Ashley Mansell, PhD

Pattern Recognition Receptors and Inflammation Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases, Hudson Institute of Medical Research

It is my utmost gratitude to receive the Milstein Travel Award, which provides me the opportunity to join the 6th Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (ICIS) conference. As a PhD student and an emerging scientist, attending this meeting enables me to connect and build networks with other researchers around the world. Not only does it help me gain exposure to good quality research, but it also gives me the opportunity to introduce my research project to the scientific community globally. I am truly grateful to the Milstein family in providing their continuous support to the organization which will undoubtedly help more students, such as myself, to become actively engaged in the scientific field.

Aleks Camille Guanizo

PhD Candidate, STAT Cancer Biology Laboratory Centre for Cancer Research Hudson Institute of Medical Research

I would like to thank the Milstein family for the generosity. The awarded travel award allows me to attend the 2018 ICIS meeting. With their help, I will have the opportunity to present my research to the scientific community and discuss with world leader scientists. As an early career researcher, this is extremely valuable as I am transitioning toward independence. I am confident that this meeting will be a success and a good help for my career development and the advancement of science.

Genevieve Pepin, MBA, PhD

FRSQ Fellow, Postdoctoral Scientist, Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases Hudson Institute of Medical Research

Dear Seymour and Vivian Milstein family,Thank you very much for your generosity. I am very grateful to receive The Milstein Travel Award. This prestigious award has enabled me to afford the trip from Monash University Australia to present my work on a global scale at the ICIS conference. My research involves finding new potential treatments for prostate cancer. Specifically, I am interested in finding a way to tap into the hidden potential of the human immune system and direct this to target cancerous cells. As a student, money is always a limiting factor in where I can present my research. Your generosity played a pivotal part in my decision to fly over from down under. I cannot thank you enough.Beyond grateful,Raymond LuongRaymond Luong

Oxidant and Inflammation Biology Group, Department of Pharmacology Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash University

Thank you for your generous support which has allowed me to attend the International Cytokine and Interferon Society Meeting in Boston in 2018. This will be my first opportunity to present my research for this scientific audience. I am at a transitional stage in my career, and I hope that by attending this meeting I will expand my network and gain new opportunities for collaboration and advancement of my scientific goals. Thank you for providing essential funds to make this a reality.

Alison Kell, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Gale Laboratory University of Washington

The Milstein Travel Award will be a huge help towards the high costs of traveling to the meeting from Scotland. As a PhD student I particularly appreciate being chosen for this award and feel it will really benefit me in my research career. Attending this meeting will allow me to present my research internationally for the first time as well as to hear talks from distinguished scientists in the cytokine biology field. I thank the Milstein family and the ICIS for this very generous award.

Claire Gorby

Ph.D. candidate, The University of Dundee

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Seymour and Vivian Milstein Family for the their support of the Milstein Travel Award. As one of this year’s recipients, I am grateful for the opportunities this award will provide me. This award lifts the financial burden of traveling to the Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (ICIS). By attending this meeting I will meet and form networks with the leaders of the fields of immunology and cytokine biology. Last but not least, I will be provided a platform to present my work and receive feedback that will help propel my project forward. I am humbled and honored to receive this award, thank you.

Christina Cho, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

Receiving this travel award has made it possible for me to attend the Cytokine 2018 meeting in Boston. Coming from Australia the distance and costs associated with overseas conferences often makes it difficult to attend many meetings. Attending this meeting is extremely important for me as it brings together many of the best researchers in my field of research and allows me to meet with old and new colleagues to strengthen and perhaps establish collaborations. I am extremely grateful to the Milstien family for their generosity and the support of such a wonderful meeting.

Dominic De Nardo

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Parkville Victoria, Australia

To the Milstein Family,

I am extremely grateful to have been a recipient of a Milstein Travel Award. This award has allowed me to travel from Australia to attend Cytokines 2018 and present my work, which was accepted this week by the journal Cell Reports. I am in the process of setting up my own laboratory in Melbourne, so attending this meeting will give me the opportunity to hear from, and meet with, leading experts in my field and establish new collaborations.

Kate E. Lawlor, PhD

Hudson Institute of Medical Researh, Clayton, VIC, Australia

I am very thankful to the Milstein family and the ICIS organizers for the travel award to attend the ICIS 2018 conference in Boston. The ICIS meeting is a great meeting for me to attend because it brings together the preeminent experts in cytokine research and allows me to present my work on interferon signalling. I plan to continue researching virus-host interactions and hope to someday be considered an expert myself. Travelling from Hamilton, Ontario and staying in Boston is made possible with this award and I’m looking forward to attending the conference.

David Hare

PhD Candidate, McMaster University, Dept of Pathology & Molecular Medicine

I would like to sincerely thank Milstein family for their generous support of the Milstein Travel Award. I am grateful to be selected as one of the recipients of this prestigious award that has helped me to off-set the travel cost to attend my first Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (ICIS). This meeting is great platform to communicate with the eminent scientists in the field of immunology, cytokines and interferon and learn about the cutting edge science and therapies. Additionally, this meeting would be an opportunity to discuss your own research, generate new directions, get feedback and establish future collaborations that will be vital for my career development as I advance towards being an independent investigator. Thank you Milstein family for your continuous support to ICIS and helping scientists from around the world to attend this conference.

Priya Luthra

Research Assistant Professor, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA

As a trainee, I feel privileged to be able to attend and present my research at scientific meetings. It has helped me to develop my presentation and communication skills and to build my knowledge of the immunology field. The Milstein Travel Award made it possible for me to attend the International Cytokines and Interferon Society meeting and I am extremely grateful! Thank you Milstein family, for your support.Leah Plasek

Virology PhD student, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, USA

Milstein Travel Award Winners – Cytokines 2018 in Boston

  • Sabrin Albeituni, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, United States
  • Nilesh Amatya, University Of Pittsburgh, United States
  • Marina Babic Cac, Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, Germany
  • Heekyong Bae, National Cancer Institute, United States
  • Amrita Bhattacharjee, University of Pittsburgh, United States
  • Susan Carpenter, University of California Santa Cruz, United States
  • Saurabh Chattopadhyay, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, United States
  • Ya-Shan Chen, Chang Gung University, Taiwan, Province of China
  • Hyeon Joo Cheon, Cleveland Clinic, United States
  • Christina Cho, University Of Pennsylvania, United States
  • Min-Kyung Choo, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Dominic De Nardo, The Walter And Eliza Hall Institute Of Medical Research, Australia
  • Pratik Deb, Rutgers University, United States
  • Alicia Derrac Soria, Systems Immunity University Research Institute, Division Of Infection And Immunity, School Of Medicine, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
  • Virginie Deswaerte, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  • Senad Divanovic, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, United States
  • Xingrong Du, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, United States
  • Adriana Forero, University of Washington,United States
  • Ka Yee Fung, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  • Arunakumar Gangaplara, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, United States
  • Christoph Garbers, Kiel University, Germany
  • Laura Garcia Perez, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
  • Christopher Garris, Massachusetts General Hospital – Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Eirini Giannoudaki, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
  • Claire Gorby, University Of Dundee, United Kingdom
  • Aleks Guanizo, Hudson Institute Of Medical Research, Australia
  • Tzachi HAGAI, Embl – Europen Bioinformatic Institute, United Kingdom
  • Daniel Harari, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
  • David Hare, Mcmaster University, Canada
  • Emily Hemann, University Of Washington, United States
  • Dulcemaria Hernandez, Duke University, United States
  • Kiyoshi Hirahara, Graduate School Of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan
  • Harry Hurley, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, United States
  • Mihyun Hwang, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, United States
  • Motohiko Kadoki, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  • Dhan Kalvakolanu, University of Maryland School of Medicine, United States
  • Apurva Kanneganti, Harvard College, United States
  • Richa Kapoor, University Of Pennsylvania, United States
  • Rajendra Karki, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, United States
  • Ryoji Kawakami, Osaka university, Japan
  • Alison Kell, University of Washington, United States
  • Myoungjoo Kim, Yale University, United States
  • Taehwan Kim, Chungnam National University, Korea, Republic Of
  • Kate Lawlor, Hudson Institute Of Medical Research, Australia
  • Ming-Chin Lee, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Helene Liu, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Province of China
  • Nicola Lore’, Ospedale San Raffaele, Italy
  • Jiadi Luo, university of pittsburg, United States
  • Raymond Luong, Monash University, Australia
  • Priya Luthra, Georgia State University, United States
  • Saikat Majumder, University  of  Pittsburgh, United States
  • Elizabeth Mann, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
  • Ashley Mansell, Hudson Institute of Medical Resarch, Australia
  • Constance McElrath, Rutgers University, United States
  • Aya Nambu, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, United States
  • Sukumar Namineni, Technical University Munich, Germany
  • Olusegun Onabajo, National Cancer Institute, United States
  • Jose Ordovas-Montanes, Mit/Broad Institute/Ragon Institute, United States
  • Jeongho Park, University Of Pennsylvania, United States
  • Genevieve Pepin, Hudson Institute, Australia
  • Leah Plasek, Case Western Reserve University, United States
  • Sree Pulugulla, Duquesne University, United States
  • Xueer Qiu, Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai, United States
  • Orna Rabinovich, NIAID, United States
  • Stefan Rose-John, University Of Kiel, Germany
  • Maria Sanchez-Aparicio, Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai, United States
  • Kimberly Schluns, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States
  • Johannes Schwerk, University of Washington, United States
  • Deepika Sharma, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, United States
  • Snahlata Singh, School Of Veterinary Medicine, United States
  • Om Prakash Singh, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, India
  • Pattama Songkhunawej, The University Of Sydney, Australia
  • Sebastian Stifter, The University of Sydney, Australia
  • Colby Stotesbury, Thomas Jefferson University, United States
  • Sarah Straub, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  • Odsuren Sukhbaatar, Nagasaki Univesristy, Japan, Japan
  • Jian Sun, School Of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology, Tianjin University, China
  • Hock Tay, The University of Newcastle, Australia
  • Javier Uceda, Cardiff Univerisiety, United Kingdom
  • Julio Valencia, Nci-Frederick, United States
  • Sharat Vayttaden, NIAID, United States
  • Manoj Veleeparambil, Lerner Research Institute Cleveland Clinic, United States
  • Ran Wang, Mater Research Institute – The University Of Queensland, Australia
  • Jerzy Woznicki, University College Cork, Ireland
  • Keiko Yasuda, Osaka University, Japan
  • Liang Ye, Institute Of Virology, Medical Center University Of Freiburg, Germany
  • Chienhsiung Yu, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  • Di Yu, Australian National University, Australia