History
The First UK Adhesion Meeting was held in 1996 at the ICRF in London. The symposium was organised
to fill a perceived deficiency within the UK, of forums available for discussion and exchange of ideas on
the role of adhesion molecules and intercellular interactions in immune and inflammatory function. The
first meeting coincided with exciting discovery of the multi-step adhesion cascade which supports the
traffic of leukocytes from the circulation into tissues. It provided a platform for the discussion of rapidly
changing new ideas. Being organised in the main by leukocyte biologists, early meetings had a strong
bias towards the role of adhesive processes in regulating leukocyte interaction with the blood
vasculature and the tissue stroma, although adhesion and migration in other biological systems were
addressed, so that UK Adhesion saw fit to extend its remit to the many aspects of adhesion relevant to
physiology and pathophysiology. Recent meetings have discussed adhesion in neuronal biology,
metastasis, angiogenesis, stem cell trafficking…..the list goes on, and is not exclusive of any branch of
the biological sciences where ‘adhesion’ plays an important role. UK adhesion has always had strong
links with other European Adhesion Societies, and regular joint meetings take place with our German,
Dutch and Italian colleagues.
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