Travel Proposal: 5th International Symposium on Ranaviruses - Townsville, Australia James Cook University in Townsville, Australia from June 4 - 6, 2019

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The purpose of this award is to support U.S. scientists to attend an international meeting about ranaviruses for their development as scientists. Ranavirus has triggered localized die-offs of amphibians. It also has the potential to drive endangered populations to extinction. Ranavirus infection is a worldwide problem. Thus, a solution requires expertise and collaboration with a wide variety of experts. The 5th International Symposium on Ranaviruses (5th ISR) brings scientists from North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia together to share research about ranavirus infections, host susceptibility to infection, immunity against infection, and improved diagnostic tests. NSF funds will support the participation of early stage investigators. This will provide an opportunity for US-based junior scientists to share their knowledge and to promote the progress of science (and NSF mission). This helps train the next generation of researchers, which is one of the missions of the NSF.This award supports travel of junior investigators to the 5th International Symposium on Ranaviruses (5th ISR). This meeting will address multiple issues related to ranaviruses and the diseases they cause. At the ecological level, the 5th ISR will address how to diagnosis, control, prevent, and (in a limited number of settings) treat ranavirus disease. At the population level, the meeting will identify potential host species, ascertain the basis for susceptibility, and develop models to better understand (and hopefully predict) the outcome of infection. Finally, identifying specific elements of the host immune response that correlate with protection from disease, and determining, at the molecular level, the basis for viral virulence, will provide insights into how ranaviruses trigger host die-offs and how the host combats infection. Collectively, the meeting will bring together ecologists, modelers, immunologists, pathologists, and molecular virologists to address this multi-faceted host-virus system. Because the problem of ranavirus-mediated disease is worldwide, any attempt at understanding the intricacies of this phenomenon require international collaboration. This meeting encourages active participation of young investigators. Thus, this NSF award provides an opportunity for early career scientists to establish themselves in the field and to provide their input for future directions in ranavirus research. The strength of the 5th ISR is that it creates genius by bringing together individuals with complementary talents to resolve an issue that each by themselves can only partially address.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.