World Experts Gather for UGA Flu Conference

The emergence of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, in April has highlighted the influenza virus’s ability to constantly change. Natural and selective pressures allow the virus to evolve in ways that make it increasingly resistant to anti-viral drugs. The loss of immunity to the virus requires annual reformulation of vaccines to prevent against potentially pandemic strains.

In an effort to address the ongoing H1N1 pandemic and to prepare against future ones, leading influenza experts from around the world will gather at the University of Georgia for the third annual “Immunobiology of Influenza Virus Infection” conference at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel on July 26-28.

The multi-disciplinary conference will provide a forum for virologists, immunologists and vaccine researchers from academia, government and industry to discuss advances in basic and applied influenza research.

It is organized by Andrew Park in the Odum School of Ecology, as well as Georgia Research Alliance Scholar Ralph Tripp and Professor S. Mark Tompkins in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of infectious diseases.

A particular aim of this year’s conference is to advance the use of mathematical modeling tools to predict the behavior of influenza virus and its interaction with hosts and the environment, according to Tompkins.

The conference features keynote speaker Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health at the National Institute of Health, who will discuss the insights derived from his studies of the 1918 “Spanish” influenza on July 26.

Taubenberger hopes to shed light on the emergence, evolution, and severity of future influenza pandemics as well as seasonal influenza.

In 2007, the National Institutes of Health awarded the University of Georgia a $7.4 million contract to collaborate with Emory University through its Regional Center for Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance. Emory and UGA will receive a total of $32.8 million for over seven years for the Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center, one of six national influenzas centers funded by the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The UGA Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study is also an external partner in a second $22.5 million NIH CEIRS contract to the University of Minnesota established to support parts of their avian influenza surveillance program.

For more information about the conference or to register, see http://www.virus-eid.org.