This Conference grant (R13) application requests funds to partially cover the cost of planning, organizing, publicizing and hosting the 15th Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate models for AIDS. The symposium will be held September 3-6, 1997 the Bell Harbor Conference Center in downtown Seattle, WA. This meeting in AIDS research utilizing the monkey model. The latest findings in pathogenesis, virus-host interactions and vaccine and drug development will be presented. It is anticipated that more than 300 scientists from the United States and abroad will attend. The symposium will encompass five consecutive half-day scientific sessions, each devoted to a different theme. These will be: 1) Pathogenesis, 2) Virus-Host Interactions, 3) Molecular Biology, 4) Nonhuman Primate Models, 5) Vaccines/Therapeutics. Each will have an invited Chair, who will give a 30 minute state-of the art presentation to open the session and a Co- Chair, who will moderate the session and entertain questions. In addition, there will be an invited Keynote Speaker and Banquet Speaker to address scientific approaches and concerns re: the global AIDS crisis and related issues of emerging viruses. A Scientific Program Committee consisting of ten members (five members from the Washington Regional Primate Research Center/University of Washington and five from other institutions) will review abstracts and select those for oral vs. poster presentation for each of the five scientific sessions. Committee members will include leaders in the field from a variety of scientific disciplines. Criteria for selection of oral presentations will include relevance of the topic as well as originality and quality of the information contained in the abstract. Those giving talks will be invited to submit their presentations in manuscript form for publication in the Journal of Medical Primatology. A poster session will include meritorious presentations that cannot be accommodated in one of the five platform sessions. The conference will also include an opening reception on the day of arrival, an evening poster session with accompanying wine and cheese reception and an evening banquet (NOTE: funds for these functions will be obtained from other sources).
