A brief history of Scandinavian society for immunology
First published: 22 July 2020
Citations: 4
Abstract
The Scandinavian Society for Immunology (SSI) was established with the purpose to advance the study of immunology in Scandinavia and to facilitate contacts between individuals and laboratories working within the field. To fulfill this the Society should organize scientific meetings and laboratory courses and take any other measure to support the development of immunology. A second objective was to establish contact and scientific exchange with other societies in Europe and overseas. By joining five national societies from the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) into one umbrella society this has given SSI a more powerful voice in international organizations such as European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) and International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). The Scandinavian Foundation for Immunology and the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology has greatly facilitated the annual meetings to be of international high quality and by attracting more participants. Thus, SSI provides a forum for Nordic immunologists to share their research results and to increase collaboration over the borders. In conclusion, the SSI has undoubtedly been and will hopefully continue to be a major strength for Scandinavian immunology.
1 INTRODUCTION
The Scandinavian Society for Immunology (SSI) was officially established on March 1969 at a meeting in Stockholm. This meeting was arranged by the Swedish Society for Microbiology with the special purpose of founding a Scandinavian Society for Immunology.1 According to the invitation issued in early March 1969, the proposed objectives of the Society were as follows:
- To advance the study of immunology in Scandinavia and to facilitate contact between individuals and laboratories working within the field. For this purpose, the Society should organize scientific meetings and laboratory courses and take any other measure to support the development of immunology within the area; and
- To establish contact and scientific exchange with other societies in Europe and overseas. The Society should take the necessary steps to become an affiliated member of the International Union of Immunological Societies, which probably would be founded in the near future.
The 1960s was a time when societies for immunology were being founded in many countries and plans for an International Union of Immunological Societies had come a long way. The reason for this was that there had been a rapid development of immunology, which sparked the initiatives to form national societies. Societies for allergology were already established in the Scandinavian countries, and in Denmark a joint society with immunology was already established in 1965. Discussions in 1967 and 1968 concluded that a Scandinavian Society for Immunology was to be preferred rather than acting through various national societies. This has also been shown to be a strategically wise decision, when dealing with a much broader context like the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) and International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS).
Participants of the March 1969 meeting decided unanimously that the Scandinavian Society for Immunology (SSI) should be formed. It was decided that the society should be organized so that membership could be either individual or through the collective association of national societies. It was also concluded that annual meetings of the society should follow a consecutive schedule among the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The official language of the society should be English. Finally, an interim organization committee was elected. The purpose of this committee was to invite interested scientists in Scandinavia to become members, arrange the first annual meeting in 1970, and work out statutes for the constitution of the society to become definitely established at the first meeting.
The first regular meeting of the Scandinavian Society for Immunology, after the foundation of the Society in 1969, consequently took place on 28-30 May 1970, at Scanticon close to Aarhus, Denmark.1
At the General Assembly, which took place on 28 May 1970, the constitution of SSI was formally and unanimously approved. The statutes, which had been worked out by the interim committee, were likewise approved. According to the original statutes of the SSI, the council, which is the executive body of the society, shall consist of one member from each country. In addition, one deputy member from each country should be elected. Members and deputy members were elected for a period of 2 years and were eligible to re-election for another period of 2 years. At the 16th meeting in Reykjavik in 1985, some changes in the statutes of SSI were approved. In accordance with the new statutes, the council shall consist of 10 ordinary members, two from each member country, who will be elected for a period of usually 3 years and are eligible for re-election for another period of 3 years.
SSI summer schools have been organized yearly since the first one in Iceland in 1985. The annual meetings have been held regularly since 1970 as shown in Table 1.Table 1. Scandinavian Society for Immunology Meetings 1970-2019
| Number | Place | Time | Meeting Secretary | In combination with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Aarhus, Denmark | 28-30 May 1970 | Klaus Jensen & Jørgen V. Spärck | |
| 2nd | Sandefjord, Norway | 10-12 June 1971 | Kristian Hannestad | |
| 3rd | Espoo, Finland | 25-27 May 1972 | Martti Virolainen | |
| 4th | Gothenburg, Sweden | 10-12 May 1973 | Leif Lindholm | |
| 5th | Copenhagen, Denmark | 29-31 May 1974 | Jørgen V. Spärck | |
| 6th | Bergen, Norway | 14-16 May 1975 | Olav Tønder | |
| 7th | Copenhagen, Denmark | 27-29 August 1976 | Jørgen V. Spärck | 3rd European Immunology Meeting |
| 8th | Pori, Finland | 25-27 May 1977 | Jussi Eskola | |
| 9th | Stockholm, Sweden | 3-5 May 1978 | L. Hammarström & E. Smith | |
| 10th | Lillehammer, Norway | 29 May-1 June 1979 | Bjarte G. Solheim | |
| 11th | Aarhus, Denmark | 11-14 June 1980 | Flemming Kissmeyer-Nielsen | |
| 12th | Oulu, Finland | 16-19 September 1981 | Anja Tiilikainen | |
| 13th | Umeå, Sweden | 20-24 June 1982 | Antonio Coutinho | |
| 14th | Beitostolen, Norway | 11-14 April 1983 | Ove J. Mellbye | |
| 15th | Odense, Denmark | 18-20 May 1984 | Sven-Erik Svehag | |
| 16th | Reykjavik, Iceland | 12-16 June 1985 | Helgi Valdimarsson | 1st Summer School |
| 17th | Tampere, Finland | 3-8 June 1986 | Kai Krohn | 2nd Summer School |
| 18th | Uppsala, Sweden | 1-6 June 1987 | Kjell Olof Grönvik | 3rd Summer School |
| 19th | Trondheim, Norway | 8-12 June 1988 | Torolf Moen | 4th Summer School |
| 20th | Copenhagen, Denmark | 19-22 June 1989 | Ole Werdelin | 5th Summer School |
| 21st | Stockholm, Sweden | 11-14 June 1990 | Göran Möller | 6th Summer School |
| 22nd | Espoo, Finland | 9-12 June 1991 | Olli Mäkelä | 11th European Immunology meeting and 7th Summer School |
| 23rd | Oslo, Norway | 26-31 May 1992 | Sigbjørn Fossum | 8th Summer School |
| 24th | Aarhus, Denmark | 22-26 May 1993 | Jens Chr. Jensenius | 9th Summer School |
| 25th | Reykjavik, Iceland | 13-17 August 1994 | Ingileif Jonsdottir | 10th Summer School |
| 26th | Gothenburg, Sweden | 25-28 May 1995 | Nils Lycke | 11th Summer School |
| 27th | Turku, Finland | 24-27 May 1996 | Olli Vainio | 12th Summer School |
| 28th | Geilo, Norway | 10-13 April 1997 | Ann Spurkland | 13th Summer School |
| 29th | Copenhagen, Denmark | 10-14 June 1998 | Arne Svejgaard | 14th Summer School |
| 30th | Lund, Sweden | 25-29 August 1999 | Rikard Holmdahl | 15th Summer School |
| 31st | Majvik, Finland | 23-27 August 2000 | Seppo Meri & Hanna Jarva | 16th Summer School |
| 32nd | Stockholm, Sweden | 22-27 July 2001 | Jacob B. Natvig | 17th Summer School, ICI 2001 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol |
| 33rd | Bergen, Norway | 24-28 April 2002 | Roland Jonsson | 18th Summer School |
| 34th | Reykjavik, Iceland | 24-27 August 2003 | F. Hardardottir & I. Jónsdóttir | 19th Summer School |
| 35th | Aarhus, Denmark | 13-16 August 2004 | Steffen Thiel | 20th Summer School, ICI 2004 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol |
| 36th | Kiel, Germany | 21-25 September 2005 | Dieter Kabelitz & Seppo Meri | 21st Summer School, Joint SSI-DGfI Meeting |
| 1st ECI, Paris, France | No SSI Meeting 2006 | Catherine Sautès-Fridman | ECI 2006 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol | |
| 37th | Turku, Finland | 6-9 June 2007 | Sirpa Jalkanen | 22nd Summer School, ICI 2007 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol |
| 38th | Stockholm, Sweden | 12-15 August 2008 | Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren | 23rd Summer School |
| 2nd ECI, Berlin, Germany | No SSI Meeting 2009 | Reinhold Schmidt | ECI 2009 Special Issue of Scand J Immonol | |
| 39th | Tallinn, Estonia | 2-5 June 2010 | Pärt Peterson & Kai Kisand | 24th Summer school, Joint Baltic and Scandinavian Society Meeting |
| 40th | Geilo, Norway | 5-8 April 2011 | Bjarne Bogen | 25th Winter School |
| 3rd ECI, Glasgow, United Kingdom | No SSI Meeting 2012 | Eddy Liew | ECI 2012 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol | |
| 41st | Copenhagen, Denmark | 14-17 April 2013 | Trevor Owens | 26th Summer School, ICI 2013 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol |
| 42nd | Reykjavik, Iceland | 11-14 June 2014 | Ingileif Jónsdóttir | 27th Summer School |
| 4th ECI,Vienna, Austria | No SSI Meeting 2015 | Winfried Pickl | ECI 2015 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol | |
| 43rd | Turku, Finland | 11-13 May 2016 | Riitta Lahesmaa | 28th Summer School |
| 44th | Stockholm, Sweden | 17-20 October 2017 | Petter Höglund | 29th Summer School |
| 5th ECI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | No SSI Meeting 2018 | Marieke van Ham | ECI 2018 Special Issue of Scand J Immunol | |
| 45th | Geilo, Norway | 2-6 April 2019 | Inger Sandlie | 30th Spring School |
According to article III of the statutes of the Society, the council can appoint honorary members. Since the foundation of the Society, it has been a custom to appoint particularly the invited speakers at the annual meetings as honorary members, but also others, who have served the society over the years. Honorary members appointed up to 2020 are shown in Table 2.Table 2. Honorary Members of Scandinavian Society for Immunology 1969-2019
| Name | Year | Name | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| N. A. Mitchison | 1969 | W. Bodmer | 1990 |
| G. J. V. Nossal | 1969 | P. Marrack | 1990 |
| N. K. Jerne | 1970 | L. Montagnier | 1990 |
| C. Milstein | 1970 | A. F. Williams | 1990 |
| J. L. Gowans | 1971 | N. Hogg | 1992 |
| M. Sela | 1971 | I. MacLennan | 1992 |
| B. Benacerraf | 1972 | N. Barclay | 1993 |
| M. Cohn | 1973 | C.A. Janeway, Jr | 1994 |
| M. Feldmann | 1973 | J. J. Oppenheim | 1994 |
| H. J. Müller-Eberhard | 1973 | T. Mak (confirmed 2007) | 1995 |
| I. M. Roitt | 1974 | W. Strober | 1995 |
| J. Uhr | 1974 | R.N. Maini | 1996 |
| L. Brent | 1975 | P. Matzinger | 1996 |
| E. C. Franklin | 1975 | M. Oldstone | 1996 |
| H. G. Kunkel | 1976 | P. Golstein | 1997 |
| J. F. Soothill | 1976 | P. C. Doherty | 1998 |
| B. H. Waksman | 1976 | J. B. Robbins | 1998 |
| J. F. Bach | 1977 | V. Kuchroo | 1999 |
| R. M. Zinkernagel | 1977 | E. K. Wakeland | 1999 |
| M. F. Greaves | 1978 | J. B. Natvig | 2000 |
| W. Haas | 1978 | E. Möller | 2001 |
| J. J. van Rood | 1978 | A. Örn | 2001 |
| F. Dixon | 1979 | J. Mestecky | 2002 |
| J. L. Strominger | 1979 | C.-A. Siegrist | 2003 |
| H. Wagner | 1979 | J. F. Kearney | 2004 |
| R. Buckley | 1981 | F. Powrie | 2004 |
| F. Melchers | 1982 | D. A. Hafler | 2005 |
| S. Ohno | 1982 | D. Kabelitz | 2005 |
| W. E. Paul | 1982 | L. Glimcher | 2007 |
| S. Tonegawa | 1982 | M. Nussenzweig | 2007 |
| M. Weigert | 1982 | H. Valdimarsson | 2008 |
| J. Gergely | 1983 | A. Abbas | 2010 |
| J. Klein | 1983 | R. Uibo | 2010 |
| V. Nussenzweig | 1984 | R. Flavell | 2013 |
| H. F. Oettgen | 1984 | A. Oxenius | 2013 |
| D. K. Peters | 1984 | J.-L. Casanova | 2014 |
| R. Gallo | 1986 | I. Jonsdottir | 2014 |
| G. Goldstein | 1986 | J. Bleustone | 2016 |
| H. von Boehmer | 1987 | I. Weissman | 2016 |
| H. McDevitt | 1989 | R. Jonsson | 2017 |
| G. Möller | 1989 | A. Mantovani | 2017 |
| M. Simonsen | 1989 | M. R. Clathworthy | 2019 |
| J. V. Spärck | 1989 | S. K. Meri | 2019 |
2 THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL SOCIETIES
The Scandinavian Society for Immunology participated in the foundation of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). As a founding member of the IUIS, the Scandinavian Society has had a representation in the council of IUIS since the beginning in 1971. Several council members have been elected over the years.
Between 1989 and 1992, Jacob B. Natvig was president of IUIS after having served as the Secretary General, Treasurer and Vice-president of IUIS. Over the years, Scandinavian members of IUIS subcommittees have contributed considerably to the establishment of immunology in developing countries. Anders Örn acted as the Chairman of the Education Committee 1992-1998. During this period, around 12 international courses were organized in South and Central America, Africa and Asia, mainly on the topics of immunology in infectious diseases. Seppo Meri was the Secretary General of IUIS 2010-2016. During this time, SSI continued participating in promoting a number of educational IUIS activities and immunological research across the globe and in the reorganization of IUIS to make its activities more efficient. In 2001, SSI organized the 11th International Congress of Immunology in Stockholm. Jacob B. Natvig acted as the meeting President, and Anders Örn was the Secretary General. The meeting gathered 5000 participants.
3 EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL SOCIETIES
Scandinavian Society for Immunology has been an active member also in the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), which is affiliated to IUIS and has organized European Immunology Meetings. SSI has arranged the EFIS meetings twice, in 1976 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and 1991 in Espoo, Finland. From 2006, the European meetings were completely reorganized and renamed as European Congress of Immunology (ECI). They have been organized every third year (Table 1). A few attempts to offer organization of ECI by SSI have been put forward during recent years but were lost in tough competition. SSI was one of the five founders of the ECI format and financial arrangement together with the German (DGfI), British (BSI), French (FSI) and Italian (SIICA) immunological societies. Since the beginning, SSI has been actively involved in organizing ECI meetings. The new principle involved the fact that national societies would not have their separate meetings during the year that ECI is being organized, but that all European immunologists would gather the ECI meetings. The ECI meetings have become popular attracting as many participants as the IUIS and the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) meetings.
4 OTHER INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES BY SCANDINAVIAN SOCIETY FOR IMMUNOLOGY
The international activities of the Society have also resulted in a bilateral agreement in 1986 with the Polish Society for Immunology, aiming at an increased exchange and collaboration between the societies. In 1991, this agreement was modified in order to include the Baltic states through the Baltic Society for Immunology. This collaboration led up to a series of courses on Autoimmunity, ABC 1-6, with the start in Tartu 1994 (organized by Raivo Uibo), as well as a joint Scandinavian and Baltic societies annual meeting in 2010. A joint Scandinavian and German Immunological Society Meeting was organized in Kiel in 2005. Seppo Meri from SSI and Dieter Kabelitz from the German society (DGfI) acted as meeting presidents.
The SSI Council has awarded travel grants to young members of the SSI to assist their presentation of papers or posters at the Annual Meetings and in European and International Immunology Meetings, in numbers proportional to the membership from each Scandinavian country. Grants supporting inter-Scandinavian laboratory visits have also been available to member scientists. All these grants are important assets of SSI Nordic and international activities.
5 SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION FOR IMMUNOLOGY
The Scandinavian Society for Immunology has had an excellent collaboration with Scandinavian Journal of Immunology through the Scandinavian Foundation for Immunology (as the owner of the journal) with which the society shares the surplus of the Journal. The Journal was established in 1972 and has since 1975 been acting as the official Journal of the Society. In 1985, an agreement was established between the Journal and the Society in accordance with the new statutes of the Society. This agreement regulates the relationship between the Journal and the Society and decides that the President of the SSI is a member of the board of the Scandinavian Foundation for Immunology and that SSI elects an additional board member.
6 SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY
One of the lasting legacies of Scandinavian immunology occurred in 1972 when Jacob B. Natvig together with Morten Harboe, founded the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology (SJI), with Scandinavian collaborators Gunnar Bendixen, Olli Mäkelä and Hans Wigzell. SJI has grown each year and become acknowledged as an important international journal of basic and clinical immunology (more recently experimental and human immunology). The first article in the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology, volume 1 1972, was the seminal contribution by Frøland and Natvig about surface-bound Ig as a marker for B lymphocytes in man.2 Other Editors over the years have been Göran Möller, Per Brandtzaeg, Zlatko Dembic and Nils Lycke.
In 1999, Roland Jonsson started as Editor-in-chief with Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren as deputy; they continued until 2017. During this period, the function of Associate Editors was initiated. In 2006, the Journal started to use electronic submissions and from 2015 onwards the Journal went over to only on-line publishing. In 2018, a new Editor-in-chief was chosen, Petter Höglund, with a 5-year assignment. Over the years, Scandinavian Journal of Immunology has produced a number of special issues in connection with both ICI and ECI conferences (Table 1).
7 WHY SCANDINAVIAN SOCIETY FOR IMMUNOLOGY?
From a strategic point of view, joining five national societies from the Nordic countries into one umbrella society has given SSI a more powerful voice in international organizations such as EFIS and IUIS. Also, by the greater resources available, for example via SFI and the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology, this has facilitated the annual meetings to be of international high quality and by attracting more participants. However, this ‘resource availability’ goes both ways, these meetings being underwritten by SSI/SFI and often generating income. In the context of a community spirit—SSI provides a forum for Nordic immunologists to share their research results and to increase collaboration over the borders. Regarding teaching—the annual meetings always include a ‘summer’ school (whatever the season). To conclude, the SSI has undoubtedly been and will hopefully continue to be a major strength for Scandinavian immunology.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Seppo Meri, Olli Vainio, Trevor Owens and Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren are acknowledged for valuable comments and contributions.