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

该奖项的目的是支持美国科学家参加关于Ranavirus的国际会议，以促进他们作为科学家的发展。蛙病毒引发了两栖动物的局部死亡。 它也有可能使濒危种群灭绝。 Ranavirus感染是一个世界性的问题。因此，解决方案需要专业知识和与各种专家的合作。第五届国际Ranaviruses研讨会（5th ISR）汇集了来自北美和南美，欧洲，亚洲和澳大利亚的科学家，分享有关Ranaviruses感染，宿主感染易感性，感染免疫力和改进诊断测试的研究。 NSF的资金将支持早期研究人员的参与。 这将为美国的年轻科学家提供一个分享知识和促进科学进步（以及NSF使命）的机会。这有助于培养下一代研究人员，这是NSF的使命之一。该奖项支持初级研究人员前往第五届国际Ranaviruses研讨会（第五届ISR）。本次会议将讨论与Ranaviruses及其引起的疾病有关的多个问题。 在生态层面，第五届ISR将讨论如何诊断、控制、预防和（在有限数量的环境中）治疗Ranavirus疾病。 在种群层面，会议将确定潜在的宿主物种，确定易感性的基础，并开发模型以更好地理解（并有望预测）感染的结果。 最后，确定与疾病保护相关的宿主免疫反应的特定元素，并在分子水平上确定病毒毒力的基础，将为研究蛙病毒如何触发宿主死亡以及宿主如何对抗感染提供见解。 总的来说，这次会议将汇集生态学家，建模，免疫学家，病理学家和分子病毒学家，以解决这个多方面的主机病毒系统。 由于Ranavirus介导的疾病问题是世界性的，任何试图了解这一现象的复杂性都需要国际合作。 这次会议鼓励青年研究人员积极参与。因此，这个NSF奖项为早期职业科学家提供了一个机会，让他们在该领域建立自己的地位，并为Ranavirus研究的未来方向提供投入。第五届ISR的优势在于它通过将具有互补才能的个人聚集在一起来解决每个人只能部分解决的问题，从而创造天才。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.