June 22 – 23, 2026
Registration
Registration Pricing
- Trainee (Grad Student, Postdoc, Fellow): $50
- Faculty: $75
- Patient Partner: $50
- Industry: $150
Registration has now closed, see you at the symposium!
Abstract Submission
Submit your abstract for consideration in the ABC 2026 Summer Symposium. Applicants may indicate their preference for oral presentation, poster presentation, or both as part of this submission.
Character Limits:
- Title: 150 characters
- Abstract: 1500 characters, no tables or figures
Submission deadline has passed.
Schedule:
8:30 – 9:45 a.m.
- Exhibitor and poster setup
- Registration
Jack Poole Hall
9 – 9:45 a.m.
- Refreshments and poster viewing
Jack Poole Hall
9:45 – 10 a.m.
- Welcome address & land acknowledgement: ABC Lead Dr. Marc Horwitz
Jack Poole Hall
10 – 11 a.m.
SESSION #1:
Session Chair: Maria Tokuyama
Bedside to bench and back
- * KEYNOTE SPEAKER * Tim Behrens, AKIIWAN BIO
- Talk Title: From Bedside to Biomarkers to Biotech: Four Decades of Chasing Autoimmunity
- Patient partner keynote
Jack Poole Hall
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Lunch, networking, poster session #1
Jack Poole Hall
1 – 2:15 p.m.
SESSION #2:
Session Chair: Laura Evgin
Immunological re-set after immunotherapy
- Megan Levings, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute
- Talk Title: “Tregs on drugs: combination therapies to induce tolerance“
- Scott Wenderfer, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute
- Talk Title: “The critical need and emerging therapies for lupus nephritis“
- Selected abstract speakers:
- Tatiana Lau, PhD candidate, Tokuyama lab: “Defining the immunological features of CD19 CAR T cell therapy in MRL/lpr mice”
- Kevin Salim, PhD candidate, Levings lab: “Differentiation of human CD4 regulatory T cells from pluripotent stem cells”
Jack Poole Hall
2:15 – 3 p.m.
SESSION #3:
Session Chair: Trainee Working Group
Health equity considerations in research
- Ninan Abraham, University of British Columbia
- Talk Title: “Health Equity in Action: Disrupting the Status Quo“
- Q&A and discussion
Jack Poole Hall
3 – 3:30 p.m.
- Coffee Break
Jack Poole Hall
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
SESSION #4:
Session Chair: Kelly Brown
Novel Biomarkers
- Cate Speake, Benaroya Research Institute
- Talk Title: “Mapping immune heterogeneity to understand health and disease”
- Selected abstract speakers
- Luisa Soares, PhD candidate, Tsai lab: “Maternal factors modulate offspring gut immune homeostasis to mitigate diabetes development”
- Seyed Dakhili, Postdoc/RA, Bromme lab: “Protease-Driven Peptide and Hapten Ligation: A Pathway to Autoimmunity”
Jack Poole Hall
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
- Working groups:
- Group #1: TBD
- Where: Graham Lee Innovation Centre
- Group #2: TBD
- Where: LL 103
- Group #3: TBD
- Where: LL 111
- Group #4: TBD
- Where: LL 112
- Group #5: TBD
- Where: Sarah Morgan-Sylvester & Richard Fraser Meeting Room
- Group #1: TBD
5:30 – 6 p.m.
- Break
Jack Poole Hall
6 – 7 p.m.
- Dinner
Jack Poole Hall
7 – 9 p.m.
- Reception
Jack Poole Hall
8:30 – 9:45 a.m.
- Exhibitor and poster setup
- Registration
Jack Poole Hall
9 – 9:45 a.m.
- Refreshments and poster viewing
Jack Poole Hall
9:45 – 10 a.m.
- Opening remarks: ABC Lead Dr. Marc Horwitz
Jack Poole Hall
10 – 11 a.m.
SESSION #5:
Session Chair: Lisa Osborne
Targeted therapies and mechanisms of action
- * KEYNOTE SPEAKER* Jen Gommerman, University of Toronto
- Talk Title: “B cell-directed therapies and MS: Dissecting mechanisms of action”
- Patient partner talk & panel discussion: Considerations of living with autoimmunity across diseases
Jack Poole Hall
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
- Lunch, networking, poster session #2
Jack Poole Hall
12:30 – 1 p.m.
- Working groups:
- Group #1: TBD
- Where: Graham Lee Innovation Centre
- Group #2: TBD
- Where: LL 103
- Group #3: TBD
- Where: LL 111
- Group #4: TBD
- Where: LL 112
- Group #5: TBD
- Where: Sarah Morgan-Sylvester & Richard Fraser Meeting Room
- Group #1: TBD
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
SESSION #6:
Session Chair: May Choi
Voices that Matter: Patient-Reported Outcomes
- Sarah Donkers, University of Saskatchewan
- Talk Title: “Restoring Function and Redefining Care: Applying Neurorehabilitation Research to MS”
- Patient partner panel discussion:
- Moderator: Eileen Davidson (Arthritis Society)
- Title: “Considerations of living with autoimmunity across diseases“
Jack Poole Hall
2:30 – 3 p.m.
- Coffee break
Jack Poole Hall
3 – 4 p.m.
SESSION #7:
Session Chair: Marc Horwitz
Viral etiologies of autoimmune diseases
- Tobias Lanz, Stanford University
- Talk Title: “Molecular Mechanisms connecting Epstein Barr Virus and Autoimmunity”
- Trainee talks from abstract submissions:
- Erin Goldberg, PhD candidate, Horwitz lab: “Latent viral infection pushes microglia toward a more inflammatory and disease associated phenotype in a novel model of multiple sclerosis”
- Leah Hohman, Postdoc, Osborne lab: “The aging gut as a driver of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis”
Jack Poole Hall
4 – 4:30
- Working group summaries
Jack Poole Hall
4:30 – 5
- Poster and talk awards
Jack Poole Hall
Tim Behrens
Keynote Speaker
Founder and President, AKIIWAN BIO
Jen Gommerman
Keynote Speaker
Professor, University of Toronto
Ninan Abraham
Professor, University of British Columbia
Sarah Donkers
Professor, University of Saskatchewan
Tobias Lanz
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Megan Levings
Professor, University of British Columbia; Lead, Childhood Diseases, BCCHR
Cate Speake
Director, Center for Interventional Immunology & Associate Member, Benaroya Research Institute
Scott Wenderfer
Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia; Investigator and Division Head, Division of Nephrology, BC Children’s Hospital BCCHR
Location:
Robert H Lee Alumni Centre, University of British Columbia
Thank you to our sponsors
