The global thymus network: Past, present and future

The Global Thymus Network (GTN) is a series of linked international meetings dedicated to the study of the thymus and T-cell biology (Table 1). The four meetings and organizing regions that compose the GTN are: the Rolduc Workshop (Europe), KTCC (Japan), ThymOz (Australia) and ThymUS (USA). Over time, the participants and organizers of the individual meetings realized that their coordination was both logical and mutually beneficial to all. Therefore, it was agreed that from 2005, each of these meetings should be held every four years, and from this year, the meetings are coordinated by the unified governing board, composed of representative organizers of each of the conferences (see list of authors of this article). Here, we would like to introduce the GTN and highlight the common and specific flavors of the four conferences.