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2010 TOWARDS AN HIV CURE WORKSHOP: HIV RESERVOIRS AND STRATEGIES TO CONTROL THEM
Background
In 2010, the International AIDS Society (IAS), with the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the French Agence Nationale de Rechereche sur le SIDA et les hépatitis virales (ANRS), the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Reserach, Sidaction and the Treatment Action Group (TAG), organized a workshop on HIV Reservoirs in conjunction with the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) in Vienna, Austria. The workshop, chaired by 2008 Nobel Laureate for Medicine and IAS President Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, was designed to increase the focus of basice science at the AIDS 2010 conference.
The workshop focused on the topic of HIV reservoirs and strategies to control them and was followed by translational sessions at AIDS 2010 that reported back on the discussions held at the workshop.
Scientific research has led to remarkable discoveries in the quarter century since HIV was first discovered. Today, individuals living with HIV can expect to live a relatively normal lifespan if they are diagnosed and treated early enough and are able to access and adhere to potent antiretroviral drug regimens. A deadly disease has been transformed into a chronic manageable condition, largely due to the efforts of basic scientists.
The strategies currently being investigated to control HIV reservoirs may hold the key to a cure for HIV disease in the future. It is widely known that current antiretroviral drugs cannot completely eradicate the virus from the body because HIV remains in some cells in a non-replicating stage called latent infection. The persistence of latent HIV reservoirs in different compartments of the body is one of the main barriers to the eradication of HIV infection.
Objectives
- To promote state-of-the-art research on HIV transmission, pathogenesis and disease progression.
- To attract the world’s leading basic scientists including senior, mid-career and junior scientists; a small number of clinical researchers and selected editors of scientific journals to come together at a global experts’ meeting, and discuss the advances and direction of basic HIV research – focusing on HIV reservoirs and strategies to control them.
- To explore the road ‘towards a cure’, highlight implications and potential for translation of cutting edge research on HIV reservoirs for clinical research, drug development, public health and other applications – and contribute to defining research priorities in HIV prevention, treatment and care.
- To increase interactions between basic scientists and other stakeholders in the HIV response by creating incentives for basic scientists to participate in the International AIDS Conference and creating incentives for the wider HIV/AIDS community to engage in basic science.
Themes of the workshop; presentations & abstracts
The workshop was articulated around an opening keynote, 5 thematic sessions that included invited and abstract presentations, a closing keynote and a poster exhibition. The themes of the workshop sessions were (click on the theme to see presentations and abstracts):
Day 1 - 16 July 2010
Day 2 - 17 July 2010
Links to AIDS 2010
 The workshop was closely linked to the AIDS 2010 conference. Selected Track A and B (basic and clinical sciences) abstracts submitted to the International AIDS Conference and related to the topic of viral reservoirs and strategies to control them were also presented and discussed at the closed workshop (oral presentations and posters), and results from the workshop were shared with the participants attending AIDS 2010. The IAS/ANRS Young Investigator Award on HIV Reservoirs was awarded to a young investigator whose abstract demonstrates innovation, originality, rationale and quality in the field of HIV and AIDS research.
Workshop International Steering Committee
- Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Institut Pasteur, France
- Ben Berkhout, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Myron Cohen, University of North Carolina, United States of America
- Aikichi Iwamoto, University of Tokyo, Japan
- Pontiano Kaleebu, Virus Research Institute, Uganda
- Paula Munderi, Medical Research Council, Uganda
- Anton Pozniak, NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College, United Kingdom
- Manuel Romaris, European Commission, Belgium
- Christine Rouzioux, Hôpital Necker, France
- Alexandra Trkola, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Mark Wainberg, McGill University, Canada
- Jack Whitescarver, National Institute of Health, United States of America
- Julio Montaner, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Emily Blitz, International AIDS Society, Switzerland
Workshop Programme Committee
- Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Institut Pasteur, France
- Monsef Benkirane, Institut de Génétique Humaine, France
- Nicolas Chomont, VGTI-Florida, United States of America
- Tae-Wook Chun, National Institute of Health, United States of America
- David Goldstein, Duke IGSP, United States of America
- Paul Gorry, Burnet Institute, Australia
- Alain Lafeuillade, Hôpital Font Pre, France
- Javier Martinez-Picado, irsiCaixa Foundation, Spain
- Paula Munderi, Medical Research Council, Uganda
- Nicaise Ndembi, Medical Research Council, Uganda
- Anton Pozniak, NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College, United Kingdom
- Christine Rouzioux, Hôpital Necker, France
- Alexandra Trkola, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Didier Trono, Lausanne School of Life Sciences, Switzerland
- Carine Van Lint, University of Brussels, Belgium
- Eric Verdin, University of California at San Francisco, United States of America
- Emily Blitz, International AIDS Society, Switzerland
- Shirin Heidari, International AIDS Society, Switzerland
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With the support of:
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