International Conference on Hepatitis B Viruses

描述(申请人提供)：乙肝病毒(乙肝病毒)仍然是一个主要的公共卫生问题，3.5亿慢性携带者面临肝功能衰竭、肝硬变和肝癌的风险。虽然有重组疫苗可用，但它的失败率为5%-10%，治疗选择仍然有限。通过更好地了解病毒进入、复制和致病过程中涉及的病毒-宿主相互作用，以及更好地定义病毒持续与清除的决定因素，可以加快治疗和预防方面的进展。拟议的会议旨在聚集大约200名研究乙肝病毒和相关动物模型病毒的不同方面的科学家，共同讨论最新的概念和技术进展。自1985年以来，乙肝病毒会议每年召开一次，是唯一一次关于乙肝病毒及其相关病毒的基础科学会议。这项申请的主要目标是为初级科学家筹集旅行补助金。2004年乙肝病毒会议将于2004年10月24日至27日在马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔举行。它将由胡建明博士和法比安·邹利姆博士组织。他们将得到一个由乙肝病毒专家组成的小组的协助，担任会议主席。2004年将再次强调让更多妇女和少数族裔担任领导职务的计划。11个口头会议将包括：新模型和病毒进入；转录和复制；组装和形态发生；调节蛋白；乙肝病毒变异；免疫学；发病机制；丁型肝炎病毒；肝细胞癌；免疫调节和抗病毒治疗。每节课由6次演讲组成，从提交的摘要中选出。将特别鼓励年轻科学家参加这些会议。每个主题的海报将分两次张贴。此外，一个研讨会将侧重于清除慢性乙肝感染的方法，这需要在乙肝研究的所有领域取得进展。最后，来自乙肝病毒领域以外的两位顶尖科学家将发表主旨演讲：一位是关于结构病毒学的，这是一个关于乙肝病毒仍有待充分解决的主题；另一位是关于逆转录病毒的，它与副病毒乙肝病毒有关。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major public health problem, with 350 million chronic carriers at risk of hepatic failure, cirrhosis and liver cancer. While a recombinant vaccine is available, it has a 5-10% failure rate, and treatment options are still limited. Progress in treatment and prevention can be expedited by a better understanding of the virus-host interactions involved in viral entry, replication, and pathogenesis and a better definition of the determinants for viral persistence versus clearance. The proposed conference is intended to gather about 200 scientists studying different aspects of HBV and related animal model viruses for joint discussions of the latest conceptual and technical advances. Held annually since 1985, the HBV meeting is the only basic science meeting on HBV and the related viruses. The primary goal of this application is to raise funds for travel grants to junior scientists. The 2004 HBV Meeting will be held in Woods Hole, MA, from Oct. 24-27, 2004. It will be organized by Drs. Jianming Hu and Fabien Zoulim. They will be assisted by a panel of expert HBV scientists serving as session chairs. Plans to involve more women and minorities in leadership positions will be emphasized again in 2004. The 11 oral sessions will include: new models and viral entry; transcription and replication; assembly and morphogenesis; regulatory proteins; HBV variants; immunology; pathogenesis; hepatitis delta virus; hepatocellular carcinoma; immunomodulation; and antiviral therapy. Each session will consist of 6 talks selected from submitted abstracts. Younger scientists will be particularly encouraged to participate in these sessions. Posters for each of the topics will be presented in two poster sessions. In addition, a workshop will focus on approaches to clearing chronic HBV infections, which necessitates advances in all areas of HBV research. Finally, two leading scientists from outside the HBV field will deliver keynote addresses: one on structural virology, a topic that remains to be fully addressed for HBV; the other on retroviruses, which are related to HBV, a pararetrovirus.