Keystone Symposia meeting on the Cell Biology of Virus Entry, Replication and Pathogenesis emphasizes key aspects of virus infection pathways and cellular responses. A central goal is the identification of critical virus-cell crosstalk during these processes. Rather than dividing viruses into separate categories such as positive-sense RNA viruses and DNA viruses, the meeting highlights common aspects of virus lifecycles among different virus groups. The multi-disciplinary nature of the proposed meeting is important in bringing together investigators using structural, molecular, cell biological, immunological and epidemiological methods. This emphasis on shared themes and multiple experimental approaches will continue to be critical to future advances in virology. While there has been spectacular recent progress in our understanding of virus lifecycles, we are still very far from being able to design antiviral strategies, and unexpected novel aspects of virus cell biology are constantly being discovered. Plenary sessions will cover the most important aspects of virus interactions with cells. Day 1 will include cutting-edge structural virology studies and imaging methods to follow single virus particles during entry. Day 2 will focus on the entry mechanisms of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses and the roles of cellular proteins in virus infection. Day 3 will cover viral and cellular aspects of virus replication and cellular antiviral responses. The last day will focus on the important areas of virus assembly and pathogenesis. Late-breaking exciting developments in this fast-moving field will be incorporated by short presentations and afternoon workshop sessions drawn from the submitted abstracts.
| |
