Influenza still remains a current concern. To be prepared for the next outbreak the understanding of viral mechanisms, host-pathogen interactions and immunological pathways is essential. It was the aim of the 4th International Influenza Meeting, taking place from September 21st to 23rd 2014, to bring together experts from all over the world to discuss and exchange the most recent research results in an international environment and to create new collaborations.
The meeting took place at the University of Muenster and was opened by Stephan Ludwig (University of Muenster, Germany), the coordinator of the FluResearchNet. More than 290 researchers from 28 countries participated in the 4th International Influenza Meeting.
Otto Haller (Freiburg, Germany) gave the opening lecture talking about Mx GTPases as antiviral effector proteins of the interferon system. Paul Kellam (Cambridge, United Kingdom) opened the first session “Host genetics of infection” with his keynote lecture entitled “Virus and host genetics of infectious disease severity”. Further sessions about “Virus host cell interaction”, “Innate immunity”, “Viral replication strategies”, “Antivirals and Vaccines” and “Pathogenesis” were opened inter alia by the invited speakers Michaela Gack (Boston, USA), Mauro Teixeira (Belo Horizonte, Brasil) and Kirsty Short (Rotterdam, the Netherlands). Within the sessions, researchers presented the most recent results – an interesting mixture between overviews and current research aspects, which offered an opportunity for scientific discussions. Furthermore, two sponsors of the meeting, Gemmus Pharma Inc.(San Francisco, USA) and the Cilian AG (Muenster, Germany) presented the talks “GP1681 as a treatment for influenza” and “Novel small inhibitors if influenza A and B viruses targeting the PA-PB1 subunits of the viral polymerase”.
The sessions were accompanied by poster presentations – 125 researchers presented their work.
We are looking forward to the 5th International Influenza Meeting on September 25 - 27, 2016.
Participants of the 4th International Influenza Meeting (Photo P. Grewer)
