Despite major improvements in life expectancy and quality of
life with antiretroviral therapy, today’s treatment cannot cure HIV infection.
To try to eradicate HIV from infected individuals, researchers must figure out
where the virus hides and how persistent infection is established in these
sites. They have also to screen and test new kinds of drugs able to reach HIV
in its ‘dormant’ state.
The prospect of efficiently controlling HIV persistence in infected persons
without permanent antiretroviral therapy is the hard task a group of
researchers has addressed since 2003. By organizing every 2-year the “International
Workshop on HIV Persistence, Reservoirs & Eradication Strategies”, they
sum-up their current advances in the field.
The Steering Committee has just announced the preliminary program of the next
edition of the workshop, to be held December 6-9, 2011.
Understanding the mechanisms of HIV persistence implies molecular biologists,
virologist and immunologists to work together. Then, this leads to new
strategies that are implemented by clinical researchers. This preliminary
program therefore includes top researchers from these different areas, coming
from USA, Europe and Australia. These 3 days meeting will go from the animal
models of HIV persistence to the currently ongoing trials of gene therapy. It
will combine state-of-the-art presentations, un-published data submitted by
participants, and extended time for discussion.
The previous workshops have been very successful with more than 150 top class
scientists from all across the globe attending it. The workshop is an excellent
opportunity for these delegates to interact and share information with other
researchers, governmental agencies, patients representatives and pharmaceutical
companies.
About the Workshop:
The top scientists who have devoted their efforts to this workshop include: Alain
Lafeuillade, Department of Infectious Diseases, General Hospital, Toulon,
France, José Alcami, AIDS Immunopathology Unit, Institute of Health
"Carlos III", Madrid, Spain; Monsef Benkirane, CNRS, Laboratory of
Molecular Biology, Montpellier, France; Nicolas Chomont, Vaccine & Gene
Therapy Institute, Port Ste Lucie, FL, USA; Tae-Wook Chun from the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, USA; David Margolis,
University of North Carolina, Chapell Hill, USA; Robert Gallo from The Institute
of Human Virology, Baltimore, USA; Marie-Lise Gougeon, Antiviral Immunity,
Biotherapy & Vaccine Unit, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France; Mario
Stevenson from the University of Miami - Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA;
and François Barré-Sinoussi, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, 2008 Nobel
Laureate for Medicine.
Contact:
Alain Lafeuillade
Chairman
General Hospital
Toulon, France
Ph: +33-4-94616340
