Over 200 researchers and physicians gathered at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Morgan Center for Research and Innovation for an immunology and infectious disease symposium on Tuesday.
The symposium — titled “Bugs, Baby Biomes & Brave New Cures: From Microbes to Malignancy” — highlighted emerging research, including in immunology, infectious diseases, and cancer biology. The daylong event featured a keynote presentation from pediatrics professor emeritus Stanley Plotkin, as well as speakers from several other universities and medical institutions representing a range of pediatric specialties.
Plotkin, who led a January 2025 discussion regarding immunization concerns under the second Trump administration, said in his address that one of the most significant changes over the course of his career had been scientists’ growing understanding of the immune system itself.
“What we’ve learned is how complicated immune responses are,” Plotkin said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian. “It’s not just inducing neutralizing antibodies, which is the most obvious, but we now realize that the immune system is much more complex than that.”
“If you were studying an immune response, you’d have to measure it in many different ways,” he added.
Paul Offit, director of CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center, said Plotkin’s career illustrates the impact scientific research can have on public health, describing him as “a man who has significantly contributed to the health and well-being of children, especially children in this country” in an interview with the DP.
“A lot of children, although they may not know it, owe their lives to him,” Offit said.
He also discussed growing medical skepticism, explaining that vaccines “have become a victim of their own success” and that science itself is currently “under siege.”
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On the other hand, Offit said that developing technology can potentially have a major impact on treatments for infectious diseases as well as cancer and autoimmune conditions, characterizing the current moment as “a tremendous time to be a scientist.”
The symposium additionally included a poster session highlighting research conducted by Penn and CHOP postdoctoral fellows and research staff.
Linlin Yang, a Ph.D. candidate in Penn’s Biomedical Graduate Studies program studying cellular and molecular biology, presented research focused on how immune cells recognize influenza viruses and how those mechanisms could eventually inform future vaccine development.
Yang told the DP that the symposium provided a “super valuable” opportunity to connect with researchers working across both basic and translational science and “build up some new collaborations.”
She added that it was “pretty cool” to listen to speakers hailing from other institutions like Yale University.
Over the past six years, CHOP’s Primary Care Network has seen the percentage of children who were up to date on their immunizations at age 2 drop from 80% to 73%.
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Senior reporter Saanvi Ram covers undergraduate sciences and can be reached at ram@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies health and societies. Follow her on X @Saanvi_vivi.
