Organisers

Jens Kurreck, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Ben Berhout, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Introduction

Pandemic virus infections are a major threat for humans. The prevalence of infections with viruses such as HIV, hepatitis viruses or influenza has steadily been increasing demonstrating the need for improved therapeutic strategies. RNA interference (RNAi) is a new technology, which allows specific inhibition of gene expression. RNAi is not only a valuable research tool, but also a promising new therapeutic strategy. Several RNAi-based clinical trials have already been initiated, among them studies to treat virus infections.

These developments underline the potential of RNAi as an antiviral tool. This symposium will cover the complete range from basic RNAi studies to clinical trials. It will bring together biochemists, molecular biologists, virologists and clinical physicians. The focus will be on human pathogenic viruses, but new concepts originating from plant virology will also be included. Furthermore, micro RNAs play an important role in the interplay between viruses and their hosts and will therefore be covered. The application of viral vectors to deliver shRNAs will be dealt with in another session.

This symposium will be the first comprehensive meeting combining RNAi and antiviral research. It will bring together European scientists and help to start collaborations and applications for funding of European networks.

Programme

Sessions:
1. RNAi mechanism
2. RNAi as a natural antiviral defense
3. Virus infection versus cellular miRNA function
4. Viral RNAi suppressors
5. siRNA therapy against respiratory Infections
6. RNAi gene therapy against HIV-1
7. Other viruses: HBV, HCV, Semliki Forest , picornaviruses
8. Viral escape and targeting cellular co-factors
9. Side-effects of RNAi treatment
10. siRNA modification and delivery: transfection agents and inhalers
11. siRNA, shRNA delivery and viral vectors
12. Update on clinical trials

Speakers

Carla Saleh - Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
Bryan Cullen - Duke University, USA Virally encoded miRNAs
Goran Akusjarvi – Uppsala University, Sweden Adenoviral interference with the RNAi/miRNA pathways in human cells
Jean-Luc Imler – CNRS, Strasbourg, France RNAi and innate antiviral immunity in the drosophila model
Kuan-Teh Jeang – NIH, Bethesda, USA HIV-1 interaction with the host RNAi machinery
Olivier Voinnet – CNRS, Strasbourg, France
Joost Haasnoot – Leiden , The Netherlands RNAi suppressor proteins from HIV-1, influenzavirus and Ebolavirus
Lorant Lakatos - Agricultural Biotechnology Center , Gödöllõ , Hungary
Thomas Rudel - Max-Planck-Institute for Infection Biology RNAi applications to defeat bacterial and viral infections of the respiratory tract
John Rossi – City of Hope Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, USA RNAi and combinatorial gene therapy for HIV in hematopoietic stem cell and T-cell gene therapy settings
Karin Metzner –University of Erlangen Nuremberg, Germany Targeting drug-resistant HIV-1 by RNA interference
Rainer Wessely – Technical University Munich, Germany
Juan Antonio Garcia – University of Madrid, Spain
Olivier ter Brake – University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands How to avoid HIV-1 escape from RNAi therapy
Carolyn Coyne – University of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, USA
Miguel Angel Martinez – University of Barcelona, Spain Strategies to minimize HIV-1 escape from siRNA
Gunther Hartmann – University of Bonn, Germany Combining siRNA and immunostimulatory RNA for the treatment of hepatitis B virus
Jorgen Kjems – University of Aarhus, Denmark In vivo delivery of nanoparticle encapsulated chemically engineered siRNA
Judy Lieberman – Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
N.N. - Silence Therapeutics, Berlin, Germany
Bettina Haedrich - Qiagen, Hilden, Germany
Didier Trono – Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, Switzerland
Mark Kay – Stanford University, USA

Venue

The conference will be held at Hotel Eden Roc, Sant Feliu de Guixols (Costa Brava), Spain.

Registration

Registration is now closed.