7th International Congress on Toxoplasmosis

简介（由申请人提供）：第七届国际弓形虫病大会将于2003年5月在Dolce-Tarrytown会议中心举行。弓形虫会议是自1990年以来每两年举行一次的国际会议，持续4至5天。该会议将于2003年在美国和欧洲轮流举行，由Kami Kim和Louis Weiss主持。刚地弓形虫是艾滋病患者机会性感染的主要原因，也是子宫内暴露的婴儿出生缺陷的主要原因。除了它的临床重要性外，刚地弓形虫已经成为研究所有顶复体的模式生物，这在Robert Ridley最近的一篇关于抗疟药物发展的综述中得到了强调（Nature 2002年2月7日；415(6872):686-93）。顶复合体包括大多数人类和动物的主要原生动物病原体，如疟原虫（疟疾）、巴贝斯虫、希氏菌、隐孢子虫、环孢子虫、新孢子虫、艾美耳虫和等孢子虫。这次会议很重要，因为它汇集了研究弓形虫的所有实验室，并允许在正式和非正式层面上交流新的想法和方法。参加者来自世界各地（欧洲、美国、南美、澳大利亚、日本）。会议的目标是传播该领域的新进展，强调弓形虫作为一个示范系统的重要性，促进合作和全领域倡议，并向该领域的领导者介绍新的或更年轻的研究人员。本次会议为弓形虫研究营造了一种在其他寄生虫学学科中未见的合作与协作环境，并促进了该病原体研究的快速和持续进展。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Seventh International Congress on Toxoplasmosis will be held in May 2003 at the Dolce-Tarrytown Conference Center. The Toxoplasma meeting is an international meeting that has occurred every other year since 1990 and lasts four to five days. This meeting alternates between the United States and Europe and will be organized by Kami Kim and Louis Weiss in 2003. Toxoplasma gondii is a major cause of opportunistic infections in AIDS patients as well as birth defects in infants exposed in utero. In addition to its clinical importance, Toxoplasma gondii has emerged as a model organism for studies on all of the Apicomplexa as was highlighted in a recent review on development of antimalarials by Robert Ridley (Nature 2002 Feb 7;415(6872):686-93). The Apicomplexa include most of the major protozoan pathogens of humans and animals, such as Plasmodia (malaria), Babesia, Theileria, Cryptosporidia, Cyclospora, Neospora, Eimeria, and Isospora. This meeting is important in that it gathers all of the laboratories working on T. gondii and allows for the exchange of new ideas and approaches both on a formal and informal level. Participants come from throughout the world (Europe, US, South America, Australia, Japan). The goals of the meeting are to disseminate new advances in the field, highlight the importance of T. gondii as a model system, foster collaboration and field-wide initiatives, and to introduce new or younger investigators to the leaders in the field. This meeting has fostered an environment of cooperation and collaboration in work on T. gondii that is not seen in other parasitology disciplines and has facilitated rapid and sustained progress in research on this pathogen.