Abstract
President's message (Joe Colacino)
I am privileged to address the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR) in this, my second message to its membership. As of this writing, we are heading into the Holiday Season and the close of 2010. I know that many, if not all, of us have faced financial challenges in our professional and personal lives. However, the economy appears to be on a slow rebound and I am happy to report that ISAR is alive and doing very well. We shall end the year in a positive financial position as you will read in the Treasurer's report from Dr Dale Barnard.
As I stated in my first message, we held a very successful International Conference on Antiviral Research (ICAR) this past April in San Francisco, USA and we are actively planning what we believe will be, once again, a scientifically exciting and socially enjoyable ICAR, this year in Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 2011. Dr Dale Barnard, ISAR Treasurer, and Ms Lauren Deaton (Courtesy Associates) recently travelled to Sofia to conduct a site visit of the conference hotel and to meet with our local host, Professor Angel Galabov, an esteemed member of ISAR and of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, regarding details of the conference. Dale and Lauren returned with a positive report and high expectations for the meeting. We are also actively planning ICAR 2012 in Japan. Dr Amy Patick, ISAR past president, and Ms Lauren Deaton travelled to Japan and met with Professor Masanori Baba to conduct site visits in several cities which had been selected as potential host cities after careful analysis of available business travel data. We applied for and obtained partial funding for the conference from the city of Sapporo and because of that support and other factors regarding logistics and cost, we formally selected Sapporo for our ICAR in 2012. We are also working with the Japanese Association for Antiviral Therapy (JAAT) to discuss and plan ICAR 2012 as a joint meeting between ISAR and JAAT.
As you will read in Dr Bob Buckheit's Program Committee report, ICAR 2011 in Sofia will include two mini-symposia, one on Emerging Viral Diseases and one on Medicinal Chemistry, and we shall hold a session as an introduction to concepts in drug discovery/development (Drug Discovery 101). We are continuing this session because of the very favourable feedback it has received from you, the ISAR members. Bob and his committee have also selected the keynote and plenary speakers, all of whom are sure to present exciting lectures. In addition, we shall have the Gertrude Elion and William Prusoff Awardee Lectures, which are institutions and highlights of ICAR. We have sent out an announcement to all ISAR members asking you to nominate individuals for these prestigious awards. Instructions for doing so can be found on the Society's website (www.isar-icar.com). The nominations will be reviewed by Dr Richard (Rich) Whitley and the Awards Committee. Dr Tomas Cihlar and the Placement Committee are planning a Career Happy Hour which will take the place of the Career Breakfasts this year. We shall also have other events to welcome young investigators and new ISAR members. As we have done at previous ICARs, we shall have the clinical symposium which is being organized by Dr Rich Whitley and Dr Paul Griffiths. Mr Roger Ptak and the Finance Committee have been actively reaching out for conference support. Dr Johan Neyts and the Membership Committee have come up with creative ways to increase ISAR membership and attendance at ICAR. Young investigators can apply for a travel grant to help defray some of the cost of attending ICAR. Please send applications to Dr Susan Cox, Secretary, as per instructions on our Society's website.
Corporate sponsors: Abbott Laboratories, Apath LLC, Biota Holdings Ltd, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chimerix, Debiopharm, Gilead Sciences Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Idenix, Medimmune, Medivir, Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., Pharmasset, PTC Therapeutics Inc., Roche Palo Alto LLC, Southern Research Institute, Tibotec, Vertex, Vical & Wyeth
This year we held an electronic election, which began 5 November and which concluded 3 December. Congratulations go out to Dr Dale Barnard who was re-elected to the position of Treasurer and Dr Tomas Cihlar who was re-elected to the Board of Directors. The turnout was 34%, which was slightly up from last year. We thank Dr Andrea Brancale, chair of the ISAR Website Committee, for all his efforts in making this a user-friendly and glitch-free process.
In addition to the election, the ballot also included the opportunity to vote to accept or reject proposed changes to the ISAR by-laws. In an effort to make the by-laws more relevant to the Society, changes were proposed by Drs Jack Secrist (former ISAR President), John Drach (former ISAR President and ISAR Historian) and Phil Furman (ISAR President Elect), and were reviewed by ISAR officers and Board members. After initial review and editing, the revised by-laws were posted on the Society's website for consideration by all members of the Society 30 days prior to the electronic voting. The final vote was to accept the changes to the by-laws. The new by-laws will be posted on the Society's website.
What can you do for ISAR? A lot! (1) Plan on attending the ICAR in Sofia (2011) and Sapporo, Japan (2012) and present your research. If you cannot attend, please be sure to renew your membership. (2) Have a voice in ISAR by voting in elections and on questions as they arise. (3) Submit your nominations for the Elion and Prusoff awards. (4) Volunteer for one of the committees listed on the Society's website. (5) Inform your colleagues, who may not be members of ISAR, about our society and the benefits of membership. (6) Contact me or any of the ISAR officers or Board members with your ideas for what ISAR can do to increase its relevance and usefulness to you.
I write this message with pride for what we have accomplished since the last ICAR in San Francisco, with excitement in looking forward to ICAR 2011 in Sofia, and with confidence that ISAR will continue to be a robust and relevant Society that will attract and welcome new members and keep its valued and cherished existing members. I hope to see you in Sofia!
Program Committee (Bob Buckheit)
The 24th ICAR will be held at the Kempinski Hotel Zografski Sofia in Sofia, Bulgaria, beginning on Sunday 8 May, 2011. The ICAR is primarily focused on new scientific developments in antiviral research, but equally important are the networking opportunities and maintaining close collaborative relationships among scientists, with a wide variety of skills, all dedicated to the discovery and development of effective antiviral therapies. The annual meeting helps all of us learn new ways of thinking about the drug development process as well as helping new scientists join our ranks and establish successful careers. Thus, consistent with all of our past ICARs, there will be ample opportunity for everyone to re-establish contacts, make new contacts, meet new scientists working in the field and socialize in a relaxed and open environment. Like last year's meeting in San Francisco, the final scientific sessions of the 2011 meeting will conclude on Wednesday afternoon with the Gala Banquet to be held on Wednesday evening.
This year's Gala Banquet will feature one of our major annual award lectures, the Gertrude Elion Memorial Award Lecture. Also, we shall be able to experience a bit of the culture of Sofia and Bulgaria with traditional Bulgarian musical and dancing entertainment arranged by our local host, Dr Angel Galabov.
The 24th ICAR will begin on Sunday afternoon with a session that will provide attendees with an introduction to the drug discovery and development process, entitled ‘Drug Discovery and Development 101 (DD101)’. This year's session will feature a presentation by Dr Dimiter Dimitrov of the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA, on the development of biologics as antiviral agents. A second planned presentation will be focused on the regulatory processes for drug approval in Europe. The DD101 session will be a highly interactive and hands-on session with the experts and we encourage everyone to arrive in Sofia early enough to attend the session beginning at 2 pm on Sunday afternoon.
Following DD101, our fourth annual Keynote Address will be presented by Dr Albert (ADME) Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Center, the Netherlands, entitled ‘Emerging Virus Infections and Intervention Strategies’. Dr Osterhaus' presentation will begin at 5 pm in the main lecture hall and will be followed by our opening reception.
In Sofia, we are pleased to have two invited plenary presentations by Dr Ralf Bartenschlager (University of Heidelberg, Germany) and Dr Esteban Domingo (Campus de Cantoblanco, Spain). Dr Bartenschlager will present a lecture entitled ‘New Insights into the Hepatitis C Virus Replication Cycle and Impact for Known and Novel Drug Targets’ and Dr Domingo will lecture on ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Viral Resistance to Nucleotide Analogs and Implications for Lethal Mutagenesis Strategies’.
This year's meeting will also feature two exciting special mini-symposia in areas important to the antiviral field. First, on Monday morning we shall hold a mini-symposium dedicated to ‘Therapy of Emerging Viral Diseases’ which is being organized by Dr Mike Bray. The speakers for this session include Dr Ernest Andrew Gould, Dr Onder Ergonul, Dr Bruno Canard and Dr Stephan Becker. On Wednesday morning, a second mini-symposium will be held on ‘Medicinal Chemistry and Novel Drug Development’ which has been organized by Dr Chris Meier. Invited speakers at this session include Dr Mike Sofia, Dr Rolf Hilgenfeld, Dr Gerhard Purstinger and Dr John Link. Our annual Clinical Symposium will be held on Tuesday afternoon.
For many years ICAR has included a Poster Awards competition and this tradition will also continue in 2011. Mark Prichard's team of reviewers is primed and ready to go to work on this year's selection of competitors in Graduate Student, Postdoctoral Fellow and Young Investigator categories. In past years the competition has been keenly intense and the Program Committee is fortunate to have dedicated members willing to serve on this important committee. The increased emphasis on enhancing the scientific quality of our Poster sessions is an important and integral part of the ICAR.
The Program Committee and the Society are committed to bringing you the best scientific experience possible at the annual meeting. To this end, the Program Committee has worked diligently this year to make changes to the annual meeting in response to feedback we have solicited from our membership. We have endeavoured to keep the best features of the meeting and add scientific sessions and events which we believe will heighten the experience for all attendees. As always, the Society will maintain its commitment to the newest ISAR members and to antiviral research by again sponsoring the Poster Award session and the Career Happy Hour. This upcoming 24th ICAR will feature a new format: the traditional early morning breakfast will be replaced by afternoon Career Happy Hour. At the event, which will be organized by Tomas Cihlar and the Placement Committee, the attendees can meet with established scientists and other professionals active in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic and the government sectors of antiviral research to discuss various career options. The new interactive format will provide participants with opportunity to join more than one discussion group during the course of the event. There is no additional fee for the Career Happy Hour, but since the available space is limited, attendees should express their interest when registering online for the ICAR meeting.
Lastly, we hope that your attendance at the 24th ICAR will also allow time for you to explore Sofia and the surrounding countryside. All ICAR functions will be held at the Kempinski Hotel Zografski Sofia and further information on the meeting or Sofia sightseeing activities will be available from Courtesy Associates. Shopping, dining and sightseeing opportunities abound in the vicinity of the hotel.
The Society sincerely looks forward to welcoming you to Sofia for the 24th ICAR in May and hopes you will join us and experience ICAR 2011.
Society's elections (Jack Secrist)
Biographies of elected Treasurer and Board candidate
Treasurer
Dr Dale Barnard received a BS degree from Weber State University in microbiology. He then graduated with a Master's degree in microbiology at Idaho State University. Dr Barnard received a PhD from Brigham Young University in microbiology with an emphasis on virology and a minor in biochemistry. He then accepted a postdoctoral position at Utah State University under the tutelage of Dr Robert Sidwell, an eminent researcher in the field of antiviral chemotherapy.
Dr Barnard joined the faculty at Utah State University as a faculty researcher in the Institute for Antiviral Research where he currently conducts research in the field of antiviral chemotherapy. Dr Barnard's principle research at Utah State University has been in the areas of antiviral chemotherapy and toxicology, both in vitro antiviral screening and in vivo antiviral studies which have been generously supported by National Institutes of Health, the US Army Medical Institute and various pharmaceutical companies. His current research focuses on SARS-CoV, highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus and other respiratory viruses of clinical importance. He is also an editor for the journal Antiviral Research.
Dr Barnard has served as the Treasurer of the International Society for Antiviral Research since 2006 as well as on other committees of the Society.
Dr Barnard is a devoted family man and is the father of five children, including one special-needs child, and the proud grandfather to five grandchildren.
New Board member
Tomas Cihlar received his PhD from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague in 1994. After completing his postdoctoral training at Gilead, he decided to stay at the company and supported the development of cidofovir (Vistide), adefovir (Hepsera) and tenofovir (Viread). Dr Cihlar's research at Gilead was initially focused on various aspects of antiviral drug resistance and mechanisms of nucleotide-associated adverse effects. As a part of this effort, he cloned the human organic anion transporter and established its important role in the nephrotoxicity of nucleotides. Subsequently, Dr Cihlar became involved in the discovery of novel antivirals, with a predominant focus on HIV and respiratory viruses. He co-discovered a new class of phosphonate-containing HIV protease inhibitors with a unique resistance profile and led a team that designed and initiated the development of GS-9131, a novel nucleotide HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor. In 2006, Dr Cihlar received the William Prusoff Young Investigator Award from ISAR. Currently, Dr Cihlar holds a position of Senior Director, Biology at Gilead Sciences. He also serves as a manager of the Gilead Sciences Research Center in Prague and as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the journals Antiviral Research and Antiviral Chemistry & Chemotherapy. Dr Cihlar is also a member of several ISAR committees and in the last 2 years served as a member of the ISAR Board of Directors.
Sofia, Bulgaria: the location of the 24th ICAR
Dr Dale Barnard
Dr Tomas Cihlar
Poster Award winners reflect on ICAR 2010 (Mark Prichard)
Each year at the annual meeting the best poster presentations are selected for Poster Awards that include $1,000 and $500 cash prizes for first and second awards in each of three categories. This year award recipients were asked to comment on their experiences at the 23rd ICAR meeting in San Francisco, California. Dirk Roymans (Tibotec–Virco Virology, Mechelen, Belgium) won first prize in the Young Investigator category for his work with respiratory syncytial virus and remarked, ‘The organizing committee succeeds in presenting a programme that offers an excellent mix of basic science, innovative ways how investigators validate new antiviral targets for drug design and state of the art information on the development of new antiviral therapies.’ First time attendee and award winner for her presentation on HCV, Zhilei Chen (Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA), was also struck by the interdisciplinary focus of the meeting and noted the sense of collegiality at the meeting, ‘During my poster session, I had the opportunity to meet some chemists who gave great structural insights on the compounds we identified, as well as people from pharmaceutical companies who gave their perspectives on the potential of our lead hits in clinical development.’ Graduate student Wenquan Yu (Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research, Doylestown, PA, USA) also won an award for his work on the synthesis and evaluation of novel inhibitors of HBV surface antigen. He observed, ‘It was an honour that my poster was recognized as a second award from so many excellent posters.’ He was also selected to present a short oral presentation of his work, ‘which is really a great opportunity, especially for a graduate student’, said Yu. Recognition of research accomplishments by peers is a high honour, and a major focus of the Society is to provide both scientific and personal support to each of its members, particularly those starting out in the field. The annual Poster Award Competition is one way the Society helps to advance the careers of young investigators.
Financial summary of 23rd ICAR in San Francisco (Dale Barnard)
I would like to thank the ISAR officers, ISAR Board and ISAR committees for their valiant, dedicated support of the ICAR meetings. However, without the support of members and guests, the ICAR meetings would not have been as successful as they have been. In reviewing the past two meetings (22nd and 23rd ICARs, see Table 1), the San Francisco meeting was financially more successful due to increased ICAR member attendance (remember the swine flu scare in Miami?), large increase in sponsorships (due to Roger Ptak's excellent campaign to increase sponsorships and the amounts donated by each sponsor), greatly increased non-member attendance from the local pharmaceutical community located in the Bay area (non-member registration fees generate more money), and due to the graciousness of Courtesy Associates, the conference organizer, in being able to reduce their costs without significantly reducing their ability to organize the meeting.
Financial summary for 22nd and 23rd ICARs
Calendar (Simon Tucker)
10–12 January 2011
San Francisco, CA, USA
www.ebdgroup.com/bts/index.php
ISAR News Vol. 20 No. 2
12–13 January 2011
London, UK
www.nibsc.ac.uk/spotlight/sogat/clinical_diagnostics/next_meeting.aspx
13–15 January 2011
London, UK
6–10 February 2011
Lorne, Australia
http://protei.asnevents.com.au/
6–9 February 2011
Banff, AB, Canada
http://www.asm.org/index.php/meetings/2010-asm-conference-on-viral-genome-replication.html
17–20 February 2011
Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.kenes.com/apasl2011/
22–25 February 2011
Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt
http://www.zingconferences.com/index.cfm?page=conference&intConferenceID=65&type=conference
23–25 February 2011
San Francisco, CA, USA
12–15 March 2011
Cairo, Egypt
14–16 March 2011
Milan, Italy
http://www.ebdgroup.com/bes/index.php
20–23 March 2011
Are, Sweden
http://www.rsc.org/ConferencesAndEvents/conference/alldetails.cfm?evid=106324
20–25 March 2011
Whistler, BC, Canada
http://www.keystonesymposia.org/meetings/viewMeetings.cfm?MeetingID=1109
23–25 March 2011
Paphos, Cyprus
27–31 March 2011
Orlando, FL, USA
28–31 March 2011
Singapore
www.terrapinn.com/2011/biopharmaasia
28–29 March 2011
Munich, Germany
http://www.selectbiosciences.com/conferences/ADMET2011/
28–29 March 2011
Munich, Germany
http://www.selectbiosciences.com/conferences/MCE2011/
30 March–03 April 2011
Berlin, Germany
11–14 April 2011
Harrogate, UK
www.sgm.ac.uk/meetings/MTGPAGES/Harrogate2011.cfm
12–14 April 2011
San Diego, CA, USA
www.drugdiscoverychemistry.com/
8–11 May 2011 Sofia, Bulgaria
8–11 May 2011
Daytona Beach, FL, USA
http://www.virology.org/CVS.html
23–28 May 2011
Kowloon, Hong Kong
http://www.keystonesymposia.org/meetings/viewMeetings.cfm?MeetingID=1127
29 May–3 June 2011
Lucca, Italy
http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2011&program=viruses
1–3 June 2011
Milan, Italy
4–9 June 2011
Traverse City, MI, USA
19–23 June 2011
Budapest, Hungary
22–23 June 2011
Boston, MA, USA
23–24 June 2011
Boston, MA, USA
16–20 July 2011
Minneapolis, MN, USA
http://www.cce.umn.edu/American-Society-for-Virology-Meeting/
7–12 August 2011
New London, NH, USA
http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2011&program=medchem
5–7 September 2011
Baltimore, MD, USA
www.omicsonline.org/virology2011/
6–10 September 2011
Sapporo, Japan
6–10 September 2011
Sapporo, Japan
11–16 September 2011
Sapporo, Japan
21–24 September 2011
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
www.escv.org/meetings/meetings.asp
ISAR News is a publication of the International Society for Antiviral Research and it is published on the Society's website (www.isaricar.com) and on the AVCC website (http://www.intmedpress.com/index.cfm?pid=16). It is prepared by the ISAR Publication Committee: Hugh Field (Chair), Masanori Baba, Erik De Clercq (retired), Brian Gowen, Colleen Jonsson, Justin Julander, Luis Schang, Ashoke Sharon, Bart Tarbet, Simon Tucker and Anthony Vere Hodge.