Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses

Keystone Symposia, Silverthorne CO

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses, organized by Drs. William E. Dowling and Thomas W. Geisbert. The meeting will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from December 4-8, 2016. Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF) are caused by a disparate group of viruses from four different virus families ? Arenaviruses, Bunyaviruses, Filoviruses and Flaviviruses. These viruses have a substantial public health impact with few effective vaccines or antivirals available. Although their structures, vectors and replication cycles are very different, there are common pathogenic features between them. The meeting is designed to bring together the research communities around these individual viral families, to explore common pathways and mechanisms employed by the viruses, to discuss current medical countermeasures, and to foster collaborations. The specific aims of the conference are to: 1) provide a platform by which established and new researchers working in molecular and structural biology, immunology, pathology and pathogenesis, medical countermeasure development, field-based research, and outbreak response can interact and cross fertilize their respective areas of research; 2) discuss whether or not there are common pathways that hemorrhagic fever viruses employ to evade the host immune response and also trigger coagulation disorders that can be exploited for the development and/or optimization of medical countermeasures; 3) prioritize new research directions, resources, and needs for efficient control and management of hemorrhagic fever virus infections; and 4) provide an avenue to training and mentoring the next generation of scientists that specialize in hemorrhagic fever viruses. This symposium will occupy a unique niche as there is not a current scientific conference which brings these communities together in a focused manner. NIAID Relevance: The general topic of this meeting is relevant to the NIAID mission with respect to the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and treatment of hemorrhagic fever viruses.