Celebrating Year One of the Walter and Jean Boek Seminar Series
The Global Autoimmune Institute and La Jolla Institute for Immunology launched the Walter and Jean Boek Seminar Series with a shared vision: to create a forum where leading scientists could exchange ideas, challenge current thinking, and accelerate discoveries that improve the lives of people affected by autoimmune disease.
Over the past year, that vision has grown into a vibrant platform for scientific collaboration, bringing together researchers from around the world to share emerging discoveries, explore new technologies, and advance the understanding of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Under the scientific leadership of Global Autoimmune Institute Assistant Professor Samuel Anthony Myers, Ph.D., the seminar series welcomed distinguished researchers from leading institutions around the world, including Harvard Medical School, UC San Diego, Purdue University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Mass General Research Institute, Sanford Burnham Prebys, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, TECregen, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Together, these speakers explored topics spanning immunology, immune cell biology, cancer immunology, regenerative medicine, data science, developmental biology, metabolism, pregnancy immunology, and emerging therapeutic strategies that are shaping the future of autoimmune and inflammatory disease research.
With approximately a dozen seminars each year and audiences of 50 to 100 attendees per session, the series continues to expand its reach while fostering meaningful dialogue across the scientific community.
The seminars attracted researchers, faculty, students, and collaborators from across the Torrey Pines Research Mesa, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary discussion and new scientific partnerships.
Research Themes That Shaped the First Year
While each seminar focused on a unique area of research, several overarching themes emerged throughout the year, reflecting where autoimmune and immunology research is headed.
Artificial Intelligence and Data Science
Benjamin Smarr’s seminar explored how large-scale health data and time series analysis are changing the way researchers understand human health, highlighting the growing role of artificial intelligence, computational biology, and advanced analytics in biomedical research.
Engineering the Immune System
Several lectures focused on harnessing immune cells as therapies, including CAR-based approaches, immune checkpoint biology, cytokine signaling, and regulatory T cells, highlighting how scientists are learning to precisely direct immune responses to treat disease.
Immune Development and Regulation
Researchers examined how immune cells develop, communicate, and maintain balance, from B-cell development and gene regulation to interactions between innate and adaptive immune cells.
Precision Medicine
Presentations emphasized understanding disease at increasingly detailed levels through advanced imaging, single-cell technologies, molecular profiling, and systems biology, laying the foundation for more personalized approaches to diagnosing and treating autoimmune disease.
Metabolism, Nutrition, and Regeneration
Emerging research demonstrated how metabolism, nutrition, and tissue regeneration influence immunity and disease, reinforcing the interconnected nature of immune health.
Pregnancy and Immune Health
Andrea Edlow’s lecture highlighted immune interactions during pregnancy, expanding understanding of maternal-fetal immune biology and its implications for healthy pregnancies and immune-mediated disease.
2024-2025 Boek Seminar Series Lectures
| Date | Speaker | Institution | Lecture |
| October 29, 2024 | Xiaoping Bao, PhD | Purdue University | Engineer CAR-Neutrophils for Targeted Chemoimmunotherapy Against Glioblastoma |
| October 30, 2024 | Mikael Sigvardsson, PhD | Lund University | Gene Regulatory Networks Link Normal B-Cell Development to Human B-Lymphoid Leukemia |
| November 6, 2024 | Benjamin Smarr, PhD | UC San Diego | How Big Time Series Data Change the Way We See Health |
| December 4, 2024 | Vijay Sankaran, MD, PhD | Harvard Medical School / Boston Children’s Hospital | Deciphering the Mechanisms of Predisposition to Childhood B-Cell Leukemia |
| January 15, 2025 | Christopher Obara | UC San Diego | Integrating Dynamic and Cryogenic Imaging Technologies to Map the Landscape of Organelle Membranes |
| February 12, 2025 | Semir Beyaz, PhD | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Nutritional Regulation of Tissue Regeneration, Cancer and Immunity |
| March 4, 2025 | David Hoytema van Konijnenburg, PhD | Harvard Medical School | Innate and Adaptive Immune Cell Interactions in the Lung |
| May 21, 2025 | Kelly Kersten, PhD | Sanford Burnham Prebys | Dissecting Macrophage-T Cell Crosstalk in Cancer |
| May 28, 2025 | Ignacio Moraga Gonzalez | TECregen | Molecular and Environmental Determinants Defining the Functional Diversity of Cytokines |
| June 4, 2025 | Vijay Kuchroo, PhD | Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School | Checkpoint Molecules, Tregs and Induction of Anti-Tumor Immunity |
| June 25, 2025 | Andrea Edlow, MD, MSc | Harvard Medical School / Mass General Research Institute | Immune Interactions at the Maternal-Fetal Interface at Single Cell Resolution |
* Three additional seminars were scheduled during the academic year but were canceled or postponed due to government travel restrictions, scheduling conflicts, or personal circumstances.
** Please note that these seminars are open to LJI scientists, as well as scientists and clinicians from other San Diego medical institutions only. The lectures are designed for a highly specialized scientific audience and serve as a platform for in-depth discussions on key topics in immunology.
Looking Forward
Rather than ending with the final seminar, these conversations continue through LEAD Day (Lectures, Empowerment, and Awareness in Autoimmune Disease), which serves as the public extension of the seminar series by bringing researchers, clinicians, advocates, caregivers, and people living with autoimmune disease together to discuss emerging discoveries and what they may mean for the future of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
As the Walter and Jean Boek Seminar Series begins its second year, it continues to demonstrate the value of sustained scientific collaboration. By connecting researchers across disciplines and extending those conversations beyond the laboratory, the partnership between the Global Autoimmune Institute and La Jolla Institute for Immunology is helping accelerate autoimmune disease research while ensuring scientific discoveries reach the people whose lives they are intended to improve.