Media Advisory: Kenneth Rainin Foundation Presents 2014 Innovations Symposium Targeting Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

OAKLAND, Calif., March 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Kenneth Rainin Foundation's 2014 Innovations Symposium: Taming the Microbiome will take place July 15 - 16, 2014, at the Union Square Marriott in San Francisco. The annual event brings together influential and collaborative researchers and institutions, with the common goal of curing Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a disease that affects five million people worldwide. The Symposium provides a nexus of diverse people, ideas and insights with the potential to accelerate and transform IBD research.

A new addition to the Symposium this year is the Rainin Foundation's Synergy Award, a grant opportunity available only to conference participants. This award was established to encourage synergistic, discovery-oriented projects that feature interdisciplinary collaboration. The Synergy Award will provide $100,000 in research support for one year to each investigator on the team, up to a total of $300,000.

WHO: Michael A. Fischbach, Ph.D. – University of California, San Francisco
Insights from a Global View of Secondary Metabolism: Small Molecules from the Human Microbiota

Rob Knight, Ph.D. – Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado
Meta-analyses and Cross-cohort Studies of the Human Gut Microbiome with Application to IBD

W. Ian Lipkin, MD – Columbia University, Center for Infection & Immunity
Small Game Hunting

Margaret McFall-Ngai, Ph.D. – University of Wisconsin, Madison
Using Animal Models to Discover the Rules of Epithelial-surface Colonization by Bacteria

WHAT: 2014 Innovations Symposium: Taming the Microbiome

WHEN:  Tuesday – Wednesday, July 15 – 16, 2014, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

WHERE: Union Square Marriott, 480 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA

To learn more about the symposium, please visit rainin-symposium.com.

About the Kenneth Rainin Foundation:  The Kenneth Rainin Foundation believes that people working to effect change need an early champion to further their ideas. Like our founder, we listen to and invest in collaborative and innovative projects that advance the arts, education and health. Learn more at krfoundation.org

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SOURCE The Kenneth Rainin Foundation