XIV International Poxvirus/Iridovirus Workshop

简介（由申请人提供）：即将举行的工作坊是1978年开始的系列工作坊的第十四期。这个两年一度的会议在欧洲和北美轮流举行。讲习班自成立以来一直致力于讨论真核生物含大双链DNA病毒的生命周期的各个方面。痘病毒是大多数报告的重点，但对非洲猪瘟病毒、小球藻病毒和各种虹膜病毒的研究也对会议做出了重大贡献。主要课题包括病毒基因组学、基因表达、基因组复制和重组、病毒组装、宿主/病毒相互作用、载体设计、疫苗开发和发病机制。痘病毒在生物医学史上的重要性由牛痘病毒在根除天花中的成功应用得到说明。今天，痘病毒由于其独特的生命周期、丰富的宿主相互作用以及作为有效的蛋白质生产载体而继续成为深入研究的焦点。例如，痘病毒载体不仅用于蛋白质纯化，而且重要的是，它们在许多免疫学研究、负链RNA病毒基因表达和复制的研究以及最近使用痘病毒重组体刺激基于DNA的疫苗中都是必不可少的试剂。此外，通过对许多痘病毒编码因子的研究，人们对宿主对病毒感染反应的分子细节有了新的认识，这些因子旨在抵消宿主抗病毒系统。对病毒基因表达、mRNA加工、DNA复制和重组机制的持续研究不仅为病毒生命周期提供了新的视角，也为其宿主所采用的机制提供了新的见解。本次会议是讨论大型真核DNA病毒生命周期的主要论坛。我们预计将有大约100个口头报告和100个海报报告，总共有200名科学家出席。我们期望2002年讲习班将证明同前几届讲习班一样具有启发性和知识性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The upcoming Workshop is the fourteenth in a series initiated in 1978. This biennial meeting alternates between a site in Europe and North America. Since its inception the Workshop has been dedicated to the discussion of aspects of the life cycle of large double stranded DNA containing viruses of eukaryotic organisms. Poxviruses are the focus of the majority of the presentations but studies of African Swine Fever Virus, Chlorella Viruses and a variety of iridoviruses are also significant contributions to the meeting. Principal topics include virus genomics, gene expression, genome replication and recombination, virus assembly, host/virus interactions, vector design, vaccine development and pathogenesis. The importance of poxviruses in biomedical history is illustrated by the successful use of vaccinia virus in the eradication of smallpox. Today, poxviruses continue to be the focus of intensive research due to their unique life cycle, their informative host interactions and their use as effective vectors engineered for protein production. For example, poxvirus vectors are employed not only for protein purification but importantly they serve as essential reagents in a host of immunological studies, in investigations of negative strand RNA virus gene expression and replication, and in the recent use of poxvirus recombinants to stimulate DNA based vaccines. Furthermore, new insights into the molecular details of host responses to virus infections are continually being gleaned through studies of the many poxvirus-encoded factors designed to counteract the host antiviral systems. Continued investigations of the mechanisms of viral gene expression, mRNA processing, DNA replication and recombination provide new views not only of the viral life cycle but also yield new insights into mechanisms employed by their hosts. This meeting is the premier forum for the discussion of the life cycles of large eukaryotic DNA viruses. We anticipate having approximately 100 oral and 100 poster presentations with a total attendance of 200 scientists. We expect thr-lt the 2002 Workshop will prove to be as stimulating and as informative as its predecessors.