Meeting report - 4th European Congress of Virology
The 4th European Congress of Virology was attended with great enthusiasm by Virologists coming from Europe and all over the world. It was the first congress after the foundation of the European Society for Virology (ESV). It will have a notable impact among European virologists.
A few figures illustrate these points.
The number of participants was very high, 1300, including the invited speakers, conveners, local committee, etc. Of the registrants, about 60% were senior, and the other were young scientists who took advantaged of reduced registration fee. Thus, the attendance was very high, even on the side of young virologists.
The submitted abstracts amounted to 842 (nearly 80% of registered participants submitted an abstract). A remarkable aspect was the world-wide representation of submitted abstracts, not only from Europe and US, but also from Canada, South America (Brazil, Chile), South Africa, Asia and East Asia (Iran, India, Philippines, and Malaysia), Australia. The abstracts selected for oral presentation were 191.
The invited speakers and chairpersons (123) represented virology worldwide (Austria 2, Belgium 1, France 7, Germany 9, Italy 9, Japan 3, Netherlands 3, Spain 4, Sweden 1, Switzerland 4, United Kingdom 10, United States 10). Approximate ratio of submitted to selected abstracts 4:1.
The President of the American Society for Virology and the Editor in Chief of Journal of Virology, in representation of the American Society for Virology attended the Congress and delivered their willingness to collaborate with ESV.
The program encompassed all aspects of Virology, from basic, to medical, clinical, veterinary and plant virology. Hot topics like influenza, AIDS and hepatitis C received ample coverage.
Eminent scientists were awarded, in particular P. Palese received the European Virology Award (EVA), P. Vogt received the GfV Loefler Frosch Medal, D. Pinschewer received the GfV Loefler Frosch Lecture, Y. Kawaoka gave the ESCV Gardner Lecture, U. Koszinowski gave the SIV Pioneer in Virology Lecture, and K. Van Laethem received the ESCV (Abbot Award).
The scientific sessions were split in three full days, plus one afternoon and one morning, for a total of four full days. The program and complete abstracts of oral and poster presentations are available at the web site www.siv-virologia.it.
Invited representative from the European Commission illustrated the state of funding for the Infectious diseases area.
The President of FEMS, Dr. Milton Da Costa, and Dr. Vaso Taleski expressed their welcome to participants in the opening Cerimony.
FEMS was also present with a booth, together with ESV, and National Societies for Virology.
Overall, 67 Travel awards were made available, as follows, 12 FEMS, 7 ECV, 10 European Society for Clinical Virology, 4 European Society for Virology, 14 Gesellschaft für Virologie, 12 Italian Society for Virology, 4 Spanish Society for Virology, 2 Society for General Microbiology, 2 Sweden Society for Virology.
