USA Graduate Student to Present at Upcoming AAI Meeting

Andrew Ferretti, a graduate student in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, recently was selected to present his abstract as a talk at the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) annual meeting, in New Orleans on May 8-12, 2015. Ferretti was awarded the 2015 AAI Trainee Abstract Award, which is given to deserving graduate students and post-doctorate scientists to enable them to attend the AAI annual meeting each year.

The AAI Trainee Abstract award provides the opportunity for Ferretti to attend his first national immunology meeting. “It is a great honor, as well as an opportunity to network with other immunologists and learn more about research and experimental approaches in the field,” Ferretti said.

The 2015 AAI meeting features immunologists from different universities, medical schools, research institutes and industries throughout the world, and it is the largest immunology conference in the United States. It provides great exposure to many topics, as well as career-building workshops that help prepare trainees for the next stage in their careers.

Ferretti’s presentation will focus on a novel mouse model for autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the lung in human patients. “There are no other mouse models for this disease, so this model allows us to determine the responsible immune mechanisms that cause disease,” Ferretti said. “Revealing these underlying mechanisms may lead to better therapeutic approaches for patients with the disease.”