Approximately 25% of the earth's population, 2 billion people, have been infected by Hepatitis B Virus (HBV). Approximately 360 million people suffer from chronic infection. Chronic HBV contributes to the deaths of some 600,000 people annually mainly by liver failure, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition to significant morbidity, acute HBV infection is correlated with pancreatic cancer. Approximately 15 million HBV victims are co-infected with Hepatitis Delta Virus, which can increase the chance of liver failure and cancer. New infections continue to arise, despite the availability of a vaccine, due to the ~10% non-response rate and underutilization of the vaccine due to cost and other issues. For those with chronic HBV the vaccine is not therapeutic. The available antiviral approaches are expensive, rarely clear the infection, and can lead to a serious rebound when therapy is terminated. This proposal requests funds to support the 2010 Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Viruses Meeting to be held in Taipei, Taiwan from October 9 -13, 2010. The Hepatitis B meeting is a forum for the truly international community of researchers focusing on HBV and the closely associated HDV. For the first time this meeting will be held in Southeast Asia, where as much as 20% of the population has chronic HBV. 2010 will mark the 25th anniversary of the first HBV meeting, organized by Harold Varmus and Jesse Summers. Since then, the HBV meeting has introduced a continuous series of broad-reaching advances to the virology community. Because so much scientific progress arises from competition, collaboration, and discussion, it can be argued that the HBV meeting has contributed to these advances. It is, therefore, imperative that basic research and the scientific exchange among those studying HBV/HDV continue and the annual HBV meeting represents the venue at which this can occur. The 2010 meeting will continue in this tradition by emphasizing discussion and networking in two poster sessions, 10 oral sessions, a workshop on the structural biology of hepadnaviruses, and keynote addresses on innate immune response and spumaviridae (a retrovirus genus with some distinctly HBV-like properties). Because of its location, a great effort has been made to minimize the cost of the meeting by working with the Academia Sinica campus. Furthermore, the Hepatitis B Foundation which has administratively supported this meeting since 2005, making its staff available for organizing the meeting and publicizing it, especially to universities with large numbers of underrepresented minorities. In order to allow the participation of junior and minority investigators, support from the NIH to help defray the meeting costs of junior scientists is requested. Limited support for meeting materials and organizational functions is also needed. The 2010 Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Viruses Meeting, the 26th in the series, is the definitive meeting that brings together basic scientists in the field of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) from around the world. HBV is a major global and US public health problem with approximately 2 billion individuals infected by HBV, 360 million chronically, resulting in an annual rate of approximately 600,000 deaths due to HBV and HBV/HDV-induced liver failure, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The meeting is a critical and internationally well-recognized platform for exchange of information in basic research on HBV and HDV infections.
The 2010 Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Viruses Meeting, the 26th in the series, is the definitive meeting that brings together basic scientists in the field of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) from around the world. HBV is a major global and US public health problem with approximately 2 billion individuals infected by HBV, 360 million chronically, resulting in an annual rate of approximately 600,000 deaths due to HBV and HBV/HDV-induced liver failure, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The meeting is a critical and internationally well-recognized platform for exchange of information in basic research on HBV and HDV infections. )
