ASM Conference on Viral Genome Replication

描述（由申请方提供）：病毒感染占全球感染性疾病死亡的大多数。病毒疫苗已被证明在控制许多疾病方面是有效的，并导致天花在全球范围内被根除。牛瘟将很快成为第二个通过接种疫苗根除的感染，麻疹和脊髓灰质炎病毒有望紧随其后。尽管如此，还有许多慢性病毒感染-艾滋病毒，丙型肝炎病毒和单纯疱疹病毒以及急性病毒感染- RSV，狂犬病，疫苗要么不存在，要么没有广泛分布。抗病毒干预已导致改善HIV和HSV以及RSV的疾病结局。通过合理设计开发有效的疫苗和抗病毒剂需要对病原体的复制周期及其与疾病发病机制的联系有详细的分子和生物化学理解。只有通过在政府、学术和工业环境中工作的多学科科学家的合作，才能完成这一任务。要求提供资金，为将于2011年2月6日至9日在阿尔伯塔班夫举行的美国微生物学会病毒基因组复制会议提供部分支持。本次会议将汇集研究人员在病毒基因组复制的机制从所有类别的病毒的最前沿工作。病毒学的传统是分而治之，现在迫切需要一种不同的范式：统一和征服。病毒学分为DNA与RNA、正链RNA与负链RNA、疱疹与痘、小核糖核酸与肝细胞癌，这导致研究一种病毒的研究人员几乎无法理解另一种病毒的词汇。因此，一种病毒所取得的知识和技术进步，如果能应用于另一种病毒，就几乎不会引起注意。这种情况在病毒基因组复制领域尤其成问题，例如，在病毒基因组复制领域中，针对病毒复制型DNA聚合酶获得的机制见解可以应用于病毒复制型RNA聚合酶，但是由于DNA和RNA病毒学家之间存在历史分歧，因此没有建立联系。（重新）建立一个会议，将研究人员聚集在一起，根据他们对病毒生命周期的一个步骤而不是病毒类型的共同兴趣，将重振一个对我们治疗和预防病毒感染的能力至关重要的领域。我们还特别希望在单分子，结构和生物化学水平上研究复制策略的研究人员与研究反映会议三个主题的干预策略的化学家之间进行交叉授粉：（i）病毒基因组复制策略;（ii）元素，因子和酶：结构，功能和机制;（iii）抗病毒药物：目标，机制和抗性。 公共卫生相关性：病毒感染占全球传染病相关发病率和死亡率的大部分。从病毒基因组复制的研究中获得的知识已经促进了针对其中一些因子的有效疫苗和抗病毒疗法的开发。ASM主办的题为“病毒基因组复制”的会议致力于探索这一关键领域的最新技术。本次会议的目的是汇集来自学术界，政府和工业界的研究人员，探索病毒基因组复制的机制，无论病毒的类型如何，并营造一个自由交流思想和信息的环境。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Viral infections account for the majority of infectious disease deaths worldwide. Viral vaccines have proved effective in controlling many diseases and have resulted in the global eradication of smallpox. Rinderpest, will shortly be the second infection eradicated by vaccination and this will hopefully be followed by measles and poliovirus. Despite this, there are numerous chronic viral infections - HIV, HCV and HSV as well as acute viral infections - RSV, Rabies, for which vaccines either do not exist or are not widely distributed. Antiviral intervention has resulted in improvement of disease outcome for HIV and HSV, as well as for RSV. The development of effective vaccines and antiviral agents by rational design demands a detailed molecular and biochemical understanding of the replication cycle of the causative agents and how this is linked to pathogenesis of disease. Such an undertaking can only be accomplished through the cooperation of scientists from multiple disciplines working in government, academic and industrial settings. Funds are requested to provide partial support for a new American Society of Microbiology conference on Viral Genome Replication, which will be held from February 6-9, 2011 in Banff, Alberta. This conference will bring together researchers working at the forefront of the mechanism of viral genome replication from all classes of viruses. It has been the tradition in virology to divide and conquer and there is an acute need for a different paradigm: to unify and conquer. The division of virology into DNA vs. RNA, positive-strand RNA vs. negative-strand RNA, herpes vs. pox, picornas vs. hepaci has led to a circumstance in which the lexicon for one virus is virtually unintelligible to an investigator studying another virus. As a result, both intellectual and technical advances made with one virus that could apply to another can go virtually unnoticed. This circumstance is particularly problematic in the field of viral genome replication where, for example, mechanistic insight obtained for a viral replicative DNA polymerase could apply to a viral replicative RNA polymerase but connections are not made because of the historical divide that exists between DNA and RNA virologists. The (re)establishment of a meeting that will bring investigators together based on their common interest in a step of the viral lifecycle rather than the virus type will reinvigorate a field that is key to our ability to treat and prevent and viral infections. We also particularly desire to cross pollinate among researchers working on the strategies of replication at the single molecule, structural, and biochemical level with chemists working on strategies of intervention reflecting the three themes of the meeting: (i) Viral genome replication strategies; (ii) Elements, factors and enzymes: Structure, function and mechanism; (iii) Antivirals: Targets, mechanisms and resistance. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Viral infections account for the majority of morbidity and mortality associated with infectious disease worldwide. Knowledge gained from studies of viral genome replication has already facilitated the development of effective vaccines and antiviral therapies against some of these agents. The ASM sponsored conference entitled "Viral Genome Replication" is dedicated to exploring the state-of-the-art in this critical field. The aims of this conference are to bring together researchers from academia, government and industry probing the mechanisms of viral genome replication irrespective of the type of virus and foster an environment in which ideas and information are freely exchanged.