2026 Woods Hole Immunoparasitology (WHIP)

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY This application for funding is to support expenses for the 29th Annual Woods Hole Immunoparasitology (WHIP) Meeting to be held on September 20–23, 2026. This meeting brings together principal investigators, students, and postdoctoral fellows from the US and around the world who are in the field of immunoparasitology. The 2026 meeting will be held as an in-person meeting with some virtual portions also available. The annual gathering of scholars in this field was established in 1997 with the intent to provide a collegial meeting place for scientists to exchange ideas in this important field. No other conference focuses wholly on the immune response to parasites. Typically, researchers in this field can present their work at meetings that broadly focus on immunology, microbiology or other specialty topics like mucosal immunology and neuroimmunology. Thus, the WHIP conference is unique. Moreover, the focus of this meeting is to provide a forum for trainees (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) to present their work to each other and established investigators. Apart from the three keynote speakers and newly established PIs, all talks are selected from the abstracts and presented by trainees. Additional career development opportunities are available during the meeting, including the ability to network with keynote speakers and meet journal editors. The meeting also aims to provide the opportunity to highlight new junior faculty by giving them the opportunity to serve as session chairs. The location was chosen because of the strong association between the Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) and the field of parasitology. This relationship began almost 40 years ago with the establishment of the annual summer course, “Biology of Parasitism,” and with the annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting (MPM) held in the fall at the MBL. It is close to laboratories on the east coast and accessible via direct flights to Boston, providing easy access to domestic and internation travel. Over 90% of the talks at the 2026 WHIP meeting will be given by either graduate students or post-doctoral fellows; in addition, all of the students and post-doctoral fellows have the opportunity to present their work in poster sessions. With both formats, students and post-doctoral fellows in the field of immunoparasitology gain valuable experience in presenting their data, as well as contacts that will be useful for advancing their science and their careers.