PROJECT SUMMARY The purpose of this grant submission is to request funds to partially support the 2023 Annual Colorado Immunology and Microbiology Conference (CIMC). This will be the 22nd meeting of this conference, which has been highly successful since it was first held in 2000. The meeting will be held the Steamboat Grand Hotel in Steamboat Springs, CO on August 30th – September 1st, 2023. The Chairs for the 2023 meeting will be Drs. Kelly Doran and Roberta Pelanda who will organize the meeting along with additional members of the organizing committee: Drs. David Beckham, Jena Guthmiller, and James Scott-Brown. CIMC program encompasses a wide range of exciting topics in Immunology and Microbiology. Topics will include cancer immunology, diabetes, autoimmunity, respiratory immunology, microbial pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, inflammation, and therapeutics. The overall goal of the CIMC is to bring the world's leading scientists and the most promising young investigators and trainees together in a collegial and supportive environment. The specific goals are to: 1) provide a forum for the presentation of unpublished, cutting-edge research on Immunology and Microbiology and foster formal and informal discussions on how these results advance the field, 2) include investigators and clinicians focusing on diverse topics and define the impact on human disease and health 3) expand the boundaries of the work of the scientists within this field, and 4) ensure development and integration of young investigators, including women and those in under-represented groups into the broader research community in a meaningful and interactive way. The collegial atmosphere will include organized discussion sessions during talks and poster sessions, and opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, providing an ideal setting for scientists from different disciplines to exchange ideas and foster cross-disciplinary collaborations both among themselves and the next generation of investigators. Thus, the CIMC will provide a unique and fundamentally important opportunity to bring together leading investigators in a format designed for the free exchange of research results and ideas covering diverse aspects of Immunology and Microbiology and relationship to disease. The CIMC will promote diversity, equity and inclusion and the development of promising young investigators in the field and their integration into the larger research community. In the short term, this will significantly enhance the ability of investigators to address critical problems in infectious and immune related diseases, while in the long term it will ensure the continued success of their efforts and those of the next generation of investigators.