More than 200 physicians, researchers and students filled the blue auditorium in Scott Hall on April 17 for the National Symposium on Inflammation and Disease progression, hosted by the School of Medicine. The event featured the leading experts from the nation’s top research institutions and the latest findings regarding inflammation and its effects on the body.

The symposium brought together investigators and researchers from around the country to examine the latest discoveries on the subject and to discuss new possible treatments for patients and applications of anti-inflammatory drugs.

“This is an exciting time for research,” said symposium speaker Charles N. Serhan, Ph.D., of Harvard University. “I hope people apply these new theories from this symposium and consider the effects of uncontrolled inflammation when studying disease.”

Inflammation is the body’s normal physiological response to injury. However, if prolonged, it can lead to various diseases or aggravate existing problems.

“Inflammation is the most important mechanism associated with disease at this moment in medicine,” said Roberto Romero, M.D., professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and chief of the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Although recognized for centuries, its importance in the control of physical processes, as well as disease, has now matured.”

The symposium presented new theories, including discoveries linking the anti-inflammatory properties of fish oils and omega-3 fatty acids to the existence of beneficial lipid mediators found in the oil.

“Today we expose scientists to areas of research they may not have been exposed to in the past,” said Kenneth Honn, Ph.D., distinguished professor of pathology at the School of Medicine and symposium organizer. “I am confident that new inflammation discoveries learned here, today, can be applied to research in many fields.”