Emory-UGA IPIRC to host symposium on H1N1 virus

Anthony Fauci will keynote April 18-20 event

The Emory - University of Georgia Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center (IPIRC) will host a symposium April 18 - 20 at the Emory Conference Center featuring an international roster of speakers.

"Swine Origin H1N1 Virus: The First Pandemic of the 21st Century" will feature leading investigators in pathogenesis and immunology of influenza virus.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with deliver the keynote address on April 18. Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of the Emory Vaccine Center and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, will present a special dinner lecture on April 19 in the Egyptian Ballroom at Atlanta's Fox Theatre.

Plenary speakers will present the latest advances in studies of H1N1 influenza viral structure, replication, cell biology and pathogenesis. Topics also will include determinants of viral host range, pathogenicity and immune responses to experimental infection or vaccination of animals, human immune responses to vaccines, novel approaches to evaluation of immune responses, and approaches to control of infection.

IPIRC (http://www.microbiology.emory.edu/ipirc/) is one of five Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance in the United States, funded by the NIAID of the NIH.

Registration is open until March 15, 2010 at http://web.mac.com/tcassin/iWeb/IPIRC/REGISTRATION.html.

A limited number of scholarships are available to graduate students, and instructions for applications can be accessed via the website.

Source: Emory University