The symposium presenters from left to right are:
- Julie Bohannon, Ph.D. Department of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center;
- Vidula Vachharajani, M.D., Department of Critical Care Medicine, Cleveland Clinic;
- Philip Efron, M.D., Department of Surgery, University of Florida;
- David L. Williams, Ph.D. Department of Surgery, East Tennessee State University;
- Liwu Li, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech University.
David L. Williams, PhD, presented a lecture in the symposium “Harnessing the Innate Immune System in the Fight Against Sepsis,” at the annual meeting of the Society of Leukocyte Biology conference “The Future of Immunology: New Solutions to Old Problems.”
The title of his lecture was “Training Innate Immunity as an Approach to the Management of Sepsis.” Dr. Williams described how aging plays a critical role in the incidence and severity of infection, with age emerging as an independent predictor of mortality in sepsis. However, training the innate immune system reprograms immunocytes to respond more rapidly and effectively to pathogens. Dr. Williams said, “Recent evidence from our research indicates that the trained immune response has the potential to improve immune function in leukocytes derived from aging individuals and/or septic patients, while additional studies in aging and septic mice show similar results.” In his presentation, he also reviewed the current status of innate immune training in aging and sepsis in human immunocytes, as well as in murine models of aging and sepsis.
In addition to serving as Professor, Dr. Williams holds the Carroll H. Long Chair of Surgical Excellence in the Department of Surgery and is the Co-director of the Center of Excellence in Inflammation, Infectious Disease, and Immunity.