European Federation for Immunogenetics

Mission and goals

It is the mission and goal of EFI:

1. To support the development of Immunogenetics in Europe as a discipline in medicine and promote research and training in this field.
2. To provide a forum for exchange of scientific information and to reinforce the skills and knowlegde of young scientists and others working in the field.
3. To create a formal organisation of workers in the field of immunogenetics, histocompatiblity testing and transplantation.
4. To develop recommendations for standardisation of techniques, quality control and criteria for accreditation and to support their implementation.
5. To promote the organisation and use of immunogenetic databases.
6. To develop relations with organisations with similar aims.

The association shall abstain from any type of political activity. 

European Federation for Immunogenetics (EFI) recognises the value of having a diverse group of people with a diversity of thinking and perspectives involved in EFI and wishes to use the differences that people bring with them as an important resource in furthering our important mission and objectives.

Equality, diversity & inclusion policy

President's page

From the EFI President -  EFI Newsletter, issue 104, November 2024

Dear EFI members,

As I step into the role of President of our community, I feel a deep sense of gratitude and responsibility. My predecessors have laid a solid Scientific Society, upon which we can continue to build and innovate. In particular, I would like to express my great appreciation for the outstanding contributions of Ann-Margaret Little. She led our Society during the last three years in an extreme wise and competent way, with strong personality, but always with a gentle and lovely attitude. She has shown how to face and overcome the numerous and huge obstacles that she met during her Presidency, never complaining, but bringing practical and fast solutions. Her dedication to EFI has been exemplary. Many thanks, dear Ann-Margaret, from the depth of my heart, being sure to interpret the feeling of the entire EFI community. I’m lucky that I will not be alone in my daily work, since it will be supported by the collaborative efforts of the members of the EFI Executive Committee, composed of valuable and efficient Officers and Councilors, as well as the members of the different EFI committees, all playing a crucial role in advancing our mission and achieving our objectives. The work of these committees is vital to our progress, and I am committed to supporting their ongoing efforts and initiatives. Regardless, nothing can be successful in our Society without the continuous support of Sonja and Ingrid, recently joined by Margriet in the EFI Office in Leiden, and by the contribution of each single EFI Member.

My primary goal, as EFI President, will be to maintain the relaxed and friendly atmosphere, as well as the strong relationships among us that have been well established over the years. These elements are not ends in themselves but are vital engines that continuously encourage and benefit the mutual scientific activities of our community. And it is important, in my opinion, to remind each other that our extensive work in Histocompati-bility and Immunogenetics is crucial for the success of all the different solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplants programs, besides bringing a great help in diagnosing autoimmune diseases and providing new insights into genetic population studies. We must never forget that our constant scientific contributions performed as lab technicians, medical doctors, biologists, or nurses is dedicated to improving the possibility of curing patients and is vital; whether by bringing research projects to completion, managing teaching plans or  performing the daily routine laboratory activities. 

Recognizing the evolving landscape of Histocompatibility and Immuno genetics and the importance of continuous education, we are committed to share our experiences participating in person to scientific events throughout the year, such as Workshops, Summer Schools, and Annual Conferences. On the other hand, especially during and after the Covid pandemic, we have very much appreciated the benefit of educational programs available online. Therefore, considering a key aim of my Presidency to focus on the professional development and education of our members, I will put many efforts in implementing the already existing e-learning platform present in the EFI website. Convinced that this initiative will provide accessible, high-quality specific educational resources to all members, regardless of their geographic location of difficulties to participate in live scientific events. The ultimate aim will be to have an e-learning platform that will offer a variety of courses and training modules designed to keep our members at the forefront of the field. Crucial to this will be the contribution of both the Scientific and Educational Committees, aware that increasing the tutorial options could be useful for the entire EFI Community, but in particular for the EFI Members that are willing to take the ETHIQ or the ESHI Diploma exams.

In line with the commitment to education and professional development, I admit to have a dream: to start future collaborations with leading Academic Institutions, ensuring to meet the highest professional standards, in order to provide formal programs for advanced training and education in Immunogenetics, preparing the next generation of leaders in the field. A further aim during my Presidency will be to strengthen the already ongoing collaboration with all the Scientific Sister Societies, in particular with the American Society for Histocompat-ibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI). By working closely together, we could harmonize and jointly develop accreditation standards, particularly in the rapidly evolving field of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), unifying an approach of excellence in Immunogenetics, with the help and support of the Standard and Accreditation committees.  Finally, I will try to encourage with all my strength the integration and scientific contribution to our Community that come from the young members, giving space to the relatively new committee, called Young EFI.

Most of us met a few months ago in Geneva, where we had an extremely successful EFI Conference, organized by Jean Villard with the help of his collaborators, last May 2024. We now look forward to a great meeting in Prague next year, organized by Tony Slavčev and Gottfried Fischer; therefore, we already look to the future, inspired by the incredible potential of our organization and its Members. Together, we will continue to advance the science and practice of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, built by our predecessors. I am really honored to serve as your President and look forward to working with each of you to achieve our shared goals…. hoping not to disappoint any of you.

Thank you for your ongoing dedication and support.

Marco Andreani

The past Presidents are:

Obituary. In memory of Erik Thorsby (1938-2021).

With sadness, we received the message that our good friend and colleague Erik Thorsby has passed away. Erik was one of the pioneers who made several important contributions to histocompatibility and immunogenetics.

Obituary. In memory of Erik Thorsby (1938-2021).

Obituary: Prof. Dr. Johannes Joseph (Jon) van Rood (1926-2017)

Prof. Dr. Jon J. van Rood, a distinguished member of our scientific community, passed away on 21 July 2017 at 91 years of age. In light of his scientific legacy, we wish to commemorate some of his most significant achievements and contributions.

Obituary: Prof. Dr. Johannes Joseph (Jon) van Rood (1926-2017)

EFI Constitution

The organization was founded on March 6, 1985, under the name European Foundation for Immunogenetics, abbreviated as EFI. It is governed by articles 21-79 of the local civil law and by its current articles. The organization is registered in the Register of Associations at the Tribunal d'Instance de Strasbourg under No XXXXVIII No 70. The name was changed to the European Federation for Immunogenetics on June 11, 1996, and officially recorded in the Register of Associations on January 17, 1997. The current articles were adopted by the General Assembly (the EFI membership) on April 28, 2023, and subsequently approved by the French Court.

French Legal Statutes - 28 April 2023

English Translation - 28 April 2023

Overview of the European Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility Conference

EFI sponsors several awards to recognise scientific accomplishments and contributions to the fields of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics and to service to society:

• Ceppellini Lecture
• Julia Bodmer Award
• EFI Medal
• Best Abstract Award / Jon van Rood Award
• Best Poster Award

For more information on the above award, please click here.

Accreditation Committee

The Accreditation Committee is to develop criteria for accreditation and to support their implementation.

Education Committee

To promote education and training for technical, scientific, and medically qualified staff in transplantation immunology, histocom­patibility, and immunogenetics throughout Europe and beyond.

EPT Committee

External Proficiency Testing (EPT) is a mandatory component of the EFI accreditation process for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (H&I) laboratories. The major goal of the EFI EPT Committee (EPTC) is to harmonise EPT for H&I affiliated with EFI.

Bioinformatics & IT Committee

The Bioinformatics & IT Committee was installed in 2018 to support the Executive Committee and all other Committees with IT-related matters. 

Scientific Committee

The EFI Scientific Committee (SC) is responsible for promoting Science related to Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics within EFI. This includes maintaining relationships to other Scientific Societies in the field, promotion of international scientific collaborations and recruitment of new young investigators to the field.

Standards Committee 

The aim of the Standards Committee is to develop recommendations for the standardisation of techniques, quality control and criteria for accreditation and to support their implementation. 

The EFI Young Professionals Working Party is a group of EFI Young Professionals from different EFI countries. This working party represents the young professionals in the field of immunogenetics, histocompatibility testing and transplantation and engage them with EFI. “Young professionals” represents EFI members that are (relatively) new to the field, irrespective of age, for instance technicians, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. 

Our main objectives are:

• To form a platform for EFI Young Professionals to exchange ideas, skills and knowledge, promote meetings or other events, socialize and network
• Represent the EFI Young Professionals by providing input to the EFI committees
• To participate in the organization of a session at the Annual EFI conference

Please reach out to us if you have any suggestions or questions, and join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12782220/. 

Committee members