Ralf Bartenschlager
Heidelberg University
Germany
Overview
There will be no abstracts submissions nor poster presentations for this conference.
Conference Overview
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed infection research into the spotlight, highlighting once again the complexity and devastating impact that infectious diseases can have. Pathogens do not respect national, ecological or species boundaries. Therefore, efforts to tackle them need to be global, coordinated and interdisciplinary. Science should play a key role in helping to tackle the challenge we face today and prevent future pandemics. This online conference will bring together research experts from different fields to present our current knowledge, strategies and approaches on SARS-CoV-2 biology, epidemiology and anti-infectives, but also to put this knowledge into the context of other infectious diseases, be they of viral, bacterial or eukaryotic origin. The meeting will provide an international forum to discuss current limitations, lessons learned, opportunities and perspectives emerging.
The beginning of the 21st century has provided ample of evidence for the complexity and severity of infectious diseases: from the numerous prior zoonotic-origin viral outbreaks, to the millions of deaths caused yearly by well-known pathogens such as TB, HIV and malaria; and from antimicrobial resistance emerging as one of the most serious public health threats of our time, to vaccination non-compliance bringing back diseases of the past. Coordinated and interdisciplinary research is urgently needed. Using the current SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as a focal point, the meeting aims to initiate a discussion on future directions in infection research, and nucleate new synergies to get us better prepared for the next outbreak.
Session Topics
- Dissecting host-pathogen interactions: from structural to cell biology
- Fundamental research towards new therapeutics & vaccines
- Tracing infection and epidemics
- Unravelling the context and complexity of infections
- Roundtable discussion on perspectives and societal role of infection research
Speakers
Ewan Birney
EMBL-EBI Hinxton
UK
Stephen Cusack
EMBL Grenoble
France
Christian Drosten
DZIF German Center for Infection Research
Germany
Arnaud Fontanet
Institut Pasteur
France
Rolf Hilgenfeld
German Center for Infection Research
Germany
Alison Holmes
Imperial College London
UK
Marion Koopmans
Erasmus MC
The Netherlands
Gérard Krause
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Germany
Nevan Krogan
University of California San Francisco
USA
Elena A. Levashina
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
Germany
Jean-Eric Paquet
European Commission
Belgium
Rino Rappuoli
GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines
Italy
Félix A. Rey
Institut Pasteur
France
Eric Rubin
Harvard University
USA
Ugur Sahin
Johannes Gutenberg
University Mainz
Germany
Philippe Sansonetti
Institut Pasteur
France
Gisou van der Goot
EPFL
Switzerland
Susan R. Weiss
University of Pennsylvania
USA
Scientific Organisers
Pedro Beltrao
EMBL-EBI Hinxton
UK
Pascale Cossart
Institut Pasteur
France
Dirk Heinz
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Germany
Thomas Lemberger
EMBO
Germany
Nassos Typas
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Conference Organisers
Maryann Heck
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Programme
Date: 3 Jul 2020
Location: Virtual