Maurice G. Colomb (1935-2024)

Maurice Colomb passed away on 19 February 2024. He was professor of Immunology at the Grenoble Faculty of Medicine, creator and head of the Immunology Laboratory of the Grenoble Hospital from 1990 up to the early 2000s.

It is important to emphasize his strong implication in academic research. On his return from a stay in Professor Porter's MRC Immunochemistry Unit in Oxford, his work focused on deciphering the mechanisms of the classical complement pathway. In 1976, he set up an INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale)-labelled unit entitled "Immunochemistry and Complement System". Thanks to the quality of its human and technical environments, during the 80s and 90s this unit welcomed numerous scientists as well as physicians and pharmacists from the Grenoble University Hospital to carry out research in immunology.

He was a pioneer in the Complement field, particularly in characterizing the structure and activation mechanisms of the C1 complex, and received international recognition for his work. He also was among the first to show evidence that complement acts as a functional bridge between the innate and adaptive immune responses. Together with Pr Kenneth Reid (Oxford) and Pr Michael Loos (Mainz), Maurice Colomb co-organized six international workshops dedicated to C1 (1984, 1988, 1992) and later to C1 and the collectins (1997, 2001 and 2006). He also organized an international congress on Complement in Chamonix in 1987. He has been a member of the ECN board from 1997 to 2003.

Maurice Colomb was also deeply committed to teaching Immunology and sharing his knowledge with students, and supervised many university PhD theses.  Maurice Colomb always showed great rigor and care for others.

- Nicole Thielens, Gérard Arlaud and Chantal Dumestre-Pérard, former PhD students of Maurice Colomb

It is our pleasure to announce that the International Complement Society has created the ICS Legacy Award to recognize outstanding and impactful contributions in the field of complement research.

​​This award aims to recognize leaders in our complement community who, through their long-standing research endeavors in complement, have made a major impact on the field. The award highlights individuals whose creativity and reliability in research have led to both significant advances in knowledge and driven new lines of inquiry into complement. The award also recognizes leaders who have consistently demonstrated excellence in mentoring the next generation of complement scientists.

Selection of Recipients:  

The ICS Council, in consultation with the ICS community, will select the awardee.  Awards may be presented at ICS organized webinars, ICW meetings, or at other events as appropriate.

Presentation and announcement of the award: 

Awards may be presented at ICS organized webinars, ICW meetings, or at other events as appropriate.

​The Legacy Awardee will be honored with an engraved acrylic award.

2024 Legacy Awardee - Piet Gros

The Hans Müller-Eberhard Lecture is to be presented to a Plenary Speaker at the International Complement Workshop.  The funds are intended to support an honorarium and travel to the ICW biennial meetings. 

The Hans Müller-Eberhard Lecture 2023 awardee is Marina Botto, Imperial College of London. Please join us in congratulating her on Sept. 2 at the official award presentation lecture during the ICS Meeting.

It is our pleasure to announce that the International Complement Society will present the Lambris Complement Training Award, sponsored by the Lambris Family.  The award will be presented by the President of ICS on Sept. 5 at the biennial Complement Workshop.  

This years' awardee is Felix Poppelaars of the University if Colorado Anschutz.  Please join us in congratulating Felix on receiving this honor.

It is our pleasure to announce that the International Complement Society will present an ICS Early Career Award for Research in Complement at the Complement Workshop 2023 in order to recognize outstanding work by a younger colleague in the field. 

This years' awardee is Ben King of Lund University, Sweden.  Please join us in congratulating Ben at the award presentation on Sept. 5in Newcastle, UK at the ICW Meeting.

Dear Fellow Complementologists, 

In the last two years, we have been witnesses to the worst pandemic in more than a century. The loss of life and health, and the economic and social disruptions that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has brought and still brings are devastating across the globe and will resonate through societies for years to come. But the COVID-19 pandemic also showed what we can achieve when we come together: the development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has occurred with unprecedented speed, with several vaccines approved and billions of doses administered worldwide with exceptional speed.

Although the immunological sciences have, as a consequence, gathered much public interest and support, the last two years have nonetheless been hard on our trainees. Not only have work and travel restrictions negatively impacted their primary research outputs, but they also severely muted another vital part of their training experience, specifically the ability to meet other scientists in person, directly share and discuss their work, and lay the foundations for their future peer group networks.

Innovation and the “can-do” attitude of members of our field have nevertheless permitted us to weather some of these difficulties. As a result, we had the privilege of still enjoying some outstanding virtual meetings over the last two years. In particular, the organizing committee of the 28^th International Complement Workshop in Berlin needs to be congratulated on pioneering the virtual format of our flagship meeting.

It is, however, safe to say that we all long for a substantial in-person meeting. It therefore gives me great pleasure, in the name of the local organizers Claire Harris and Kevin Marchbank, to invite you to the 29^th International Complement Workshop in Newcastle, UK, September 1-5, 2023. The UK has a rich and long history of complement research. Newcastle, in particular, is recognized as powerhouse of innovation because of the pivotal contributions of the complementologists at Newcastle University to our understanding of the mechanisms and treatments of complement-mediated thrombotic microangiopathy (also known as atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome). The University is excited to host the 29^th ICW and has committed substantial funds to support and provide a state-of-the art and ecofriendly conference setting. Paired with the city’s rich history and local hospitability, Newcastle should provide an excellent platform for a vibrant and exciting meeting on complement. Over the last few years, it has become clear that complement serves unexpected roles in cell physiology and immunology – in fact, complement has emerged as an important contributor to the pathology of COVID-19. Thus, there is renewed interest in this ancient system and this meeting will be a stellar opportunity for colleagues and collaborators, as well as newcomers to the field, to learn about and to discuss broad aspects of complement biology.

I hope to meet you in Newcastle 2023.

Claudia Kemper
ICS, President

After the great success of the first two editions, today we cordially invite you to attend the 3rd Toronto Complement Conference (TCC 2022), which will be held Thursday, November 17 to Saturday, November 19, 2022. This event will be held virtually over Zoom.

Talks will cover a wide range of topics within the realm of complement-mediated diseases, with particular highlights including hot topics in complement, nephrology, and haematology. We are proud to present an outstanding group of international faculty, and invite you to actively participate in the scientific program via submission of your abstract(s). Special attention will be paid to early career work with our new Young Investigators Forum.

For further information including the full scientific program, conference registration, abstract submission, and awards, please refer to the following website: https://www.toronto-complement-conference.com/. 

We look forward to seeing you at TCC 2022!

Christoph Licht & Christopher Patriquin (Co-Chairs)

It’s undoubtedly safe to say that we had all hoped for a better start to 2022. Despite all that is going on around us in the world, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you, your colleagues, your families and friends a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year 2022.

I greet you as the new president of the International Complement Society. As most of you know, I began my training in complement over 20 years ago. I have had, and continue to have, the privilege of being mentored by, and working with, some outstanding scientists. These individuals formed me as a researcher and individual.

During the last 20 years I have witnessed how our understanding of the complement system has morphed from that of a sidekick “complementing” the rest of the immune system into that of a primary orchestrator of immunity, cellular physiology and tissue homeostasis.

My enthusiasm for this old system has not waned over the past decades. Quite the opposite, in fact, since  I could not envisage working in another field. Thus, I thank you for your trust in allowing me to lead the ICS as president for the next two years.

I am fortunate that I can tap into the experience of an outstanding ICS leadership team. Peter Garred’s contributions as past president have been invaluable. Specifically, his early initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to weather some of the difficulties faced by a scientific community living through a pandemic. Over the last two years we have had the privilege of enjoying two outstanding virtual symposia on the roles of complement in COVID-19 and in inflammation spear-headed by the ICS. 2021 ended on a high note, with the highly successful 28th (virtual) International Complement Workshop organized by Peter Zipfel and Christine Skerka and their Local Organizing Committee; this conference created much needed opportunity to make new friends and reminisce with old ones, meet colleagues and collaborators, discuss science and to network.

I am excited to also have the support of the new president elect, Trent Woodruff, the new ICS secretary, Zoltan Prohaszka, council members Nobutaka Wakamiya, Leendert Trouw, Josh Thurman, and Claire Harris, as well as newly elected members Suzan Rooijakkers, Rafael Bayarri Olmos, Anne Rosbjerg, and Lubka Roumenina. I am delighted that my tenure coincides with the term of Viviana Ferreira as newly elected treasurer. Viviana and I have worked together on several occasions for the ICS mission, and she has been instrumental in increasing the visibility of complement research among the broader immunology community via her engagement with the American Association of Immunologists.  

We would like to put on record our gratitude to Michael Kirschfink and Dan Ricklin whose tenures ended in 2021 and who left the ICS in good (financial) shape. We will miss their insights and their contributions. Another loss for the ICS leadership is the retirement of our executive director and stalwart, Sheilah Jewart. Sheilah’s expertise, intuition, and diplomatic streak brought important and needed change to the operations of the ICS. Her contributions to keeping our ship afloat were invaluable and will be missed. In her place, we welcome Karen Gottlieb as new ICS executive director. Karen comes with the highest possible endorsement from Sheilah, and I am confident that she will be an excellent successor.

Thus, the ICS Board and I, with engagement from ECCO, and in dialogue with the complement community, are looking forward to further promoting the complement system as a critical player in immunology and as a therapeutic target – and to ultimately recruit and retain the best and brightest of young researchers to join our exciting field and to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Claudia Kemper, President

Dear Colleagues:

On behalf of the officers and councilors of both ICS and ECN, we want to thank you for your patience and understanding while we worked out responses to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, that caused the cancellation of the ICW Berlin 2020. After much discussion of the options available, it was agreed it would be in everyone’s and both societies best interest and to move all three forthcoming complement meetings up a year. We will announce further details once we have the new dates finalized for ICW Berlin 2021 / EMCHD Bern 2022 / ICW Newcastle 2023.

This also impacts the  ICS Council nominations and elections as we move forward. To comply with the Bylaws of ICS the elections will be postponed and will follow the regular order in 2021. The ECN board has decided to follow the same procedure. 

In response to the pandemic, ICS/ECN will be holding a series of meetings via Zoom to address the issues around complement and Covid-19 and open a discussion forum on Slack. Information about new articles related to complement and Covid-19 will be posted on complement.org and discussed in Focus on Complement. Look for the announcement in the next couple of days and plan to participate in these important knowledge-sharing opportunities and possibilities for collaborations, which will be done in partnership with the early-career complementologists, organized in ECCO (chaired by Dr. Nicole Schäfer).

​Best Regards,

​Peter Garred, MD, DMSci                 Reinhard Würzner, MD, PhD,

President of ICS                                 MD, PhD, President of ECN