By Dallas Head
There are over 7,000 diseases that affect human immune systems, but only 500 have treatments, because the human immune system is a complicated and advanced mechanism. Scientists have been trying to better understand these systems by replicating them.
William Warren, vice president and head of Innovation Programs and Networks at Sanofi Pasteur, the largest company in the world devoted to vaccines, will visit CSU Wednesday, Oct. 19, to discuss his company’s latest design of a surrogate human immune system that has been effective in detecting reactions to potential medical treatments.
The seminar is part of the Leadership in Innovation Speaker Series hosted by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Warren’s talk, “What would Dr. Seuss say about crossing the idea-to-innovation-to-industry chasms?,” will examine how the Modular IMmune In vitro Construct will allow researchers to test vaccines, drugs, environmental irritants, cosmetics and more on human immune systems.
“If you ask, ‘What are the tall poles in the tent to biomedical research?’ these two topics seem to hit the major list: Asking the right questions, for which Dr. Seuss has much to say, and translational disease models,” said Warren. “We hope that the MIMIC model can be used to accelerate the pace of vaccine and drug development by predicting tomorrow’s immunity today using a translational model of the human immune system.”
The MIMIC technology also has applications in vaccine and adjuvant immunogenicity, immunotoxicity predictions, biologic drug immunogenicity and vaccine effectiveness.
The event starts with a reception at 4 p.m. in the Lory Student Center Ballroom A, followed by Warren’s talk from 5 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; however, registration is required.
Leadership in Innovation Series
The series was launched in 2014 by CSU’s Office of the Vice President for Research. It is a way to introduce global innovations and leading innovators from the public and private sector to the university and Northern Colorado.
