Proceedings of the 12th Germinal Center Conference. Graz, Austria, July 1-5, 1996.

Abstract

"In Vivo Veritas": Under this motto, the twelfth socalled Germinal Centre Conference was held in Graz, Austria, July 1 to 5, 1996, with Prof. Konrad Schauenstein chairing the organizing committee, with the assistance of Dr. Richard Boyd (Australia). Despite the progress that is being made using in vitro models, some immunologists believe that "the proof of the pudding is in the eating", that is, to understand the physiology of the immune system as it operates under in vivo conditions is to understand it all. In 1966, the first conference on Germinal Centres in Immune Responses was held in Bern, Switzerland, at the initiative of C.C. Congdon (Oak Ridge, TN) and H. Cottier (Bern, Switzerland), and included 57 presentations, "which were discussed at length". "The range of interest extended from phylogenesis and anatomy to studies on cell proliferation, immunohistochemistry, cancer research and radiobiology. "The aim of this broad coverage was to combine all available information on the role of germinal centers in immune responses in a single package, instead of leaving it scattered around in reports dealing with divergent immunological problems" (Cottier et al., 1967). As this meeting, at least to the opinion of those attending, was quite successful, a next meeting was scheduled for 1968 to be held in Padua, Italy, where, in 1604, Hieronymus Fabricius gave the first description of what was later called the Bursa of Fabricius in his honor. As it had become apparent that Germinal Centers were not the only site of reactivity following antigen administration, the scope of interest broadened and hence the title of these meetings changed into "Conference on Lymphatic Tissue and Germinal Centers in Immune Reactions". In the index of the Proceedings of the 3rd GCC, held in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1970, for the first time "B cells" are mentioned and T cells are still referred to as "Thymus-derived cells", even though in some presentations, the term "T cells" is already being used. Once these cells and their pivotal role in immune responses had been recognized, a shift to an even