About CIP
Founded in 2005, the CIMT Immunoguiding Program CIP guides the development of innvovative cancer immunotherapeutics through inter-laboratory harmonization and quality control education.
CIP Mission: CIP's aim is to help establish high-quality immunomonitoring across the field. For this purpose, CIP supports the concept of immune monitoring harmonization and promotes the technical validation of in-vitro assays.
CIP Objective: to guide the development of innovative cancer immunotherapeutics on the basis of immunological outcomes.
CIP organizes proficiency panels to reach quality control and inter-laboratory harmonization of commonly applied immunomonitoring assays and to test new tools or assays which are of interest to the field. CIP covers educational aspects by organizing scientific sessions at the CIMT Annual Meeting and by proposing workshops. CIP guidelines are available on its homepage, and new insights are published in peer-review journals. So far, almost 80 laboratories from Europe and the USA have participated in CIP activities, and a number of labs have expressed their interest in joining upcoming panels. CIP cooperates with partner groups and institutions that share similar aims and is funded through educational grants and industry support.
The aims of the CIP working group are to:
encourage professional developers and users to exchange techniques, protocols and reagents, and to critically discuss immune monitoring issues.
organize interlaboratory testing projects in order to compare techniques, variables and local protocols used for measuring antigen-specific T cells and other immune cells.
propose technical guidelines and increase transparency for reporting results of in vitro assays (MIATA project).
advise in the monitoring of T-cell responses in clinical studies, including help for training staff members.
share experience with other scientists and working groups that are active in the field of immune monitoring.
promote immune monitoring and communicate significant developments in the field: CIP organizes scientific sessions during the CIMT Annual Meetings, and international speakers present their most recent results at the plenary immunoguiding session. CIP members meet once a year during the CIMT Meeting (CIP breakout session) in order to discuss ongoing CIP panels and results, learn more about new developments in the field, and address priorities for upcoming activities. The group is open to all laboratories that focus on the monitoring of immune cells.
