CFP: Redefining the Self: 
Biological and Philosophical Perspectives

The organizing committee invites submission of abstracts from philosophers, philosophers of science, mathematical modelers and biologists on the topics related to the definition of the self, the self/nonself theory or other theories of the immune system. The contribution should not focus on presenting primary experimental or modeling data but on discussing conceptual and theoretical aspects. Each contributed speaker will have 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. The official language of the conference is English.

This interdisciplinary conference aims at exploring the meanings of the notion of self and to determine whether it is appropriate to redefine the self or go beyond this notion. By confronting different theoretical and philosophical approaches to the immune system, this conference will contribute to stimulate debates about the conceptual basis of immunology.

Invited speakers:

·       Polly Matzinger (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA)
·       Anne Marie Moulin (UMR Sphere, CNRS Paris, France)
·       John Perry (Stanford University, USA)
·       Irun Cohen (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israël)
·       Philippe Kourilsky (Collège de France, France)
·       Margaret McFall-Ngai (University of Wisconsin, USA)
·       Antonio Coutinho (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal)
·       Alfred Tauber (Boston University, USA)
·       Eric Vivier (Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille Luminy, France)

The call for abstracts for oral presentations is open until April 10, 2014. (Please note that no poster session will be available). Abstracts should not exceed 300 words. Your submission must also include your name, title, affiliation, contact details and, if appropriate, the list of co-authors. Please submit your abstract by email at [email protected]. Selected participants will be notified by email at the beginning of May 2014.

The organizing committee: Hugues Bersini, Marc Daeron, Leïla Perié, Thomas Pradeu and Veronique Thomas-Vaslin.

More information about the program and the conference can be found here: