Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Next Generation HIV Vaccines & Therapies, organized by Drs. Michel C. Nussenzweig, Robert F. Siliciano, John R. Mascola and Margaret E. Ackerman. The conference will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from February 21-25, 2021. Despite the many years of research, a successful vaccine or cure for HIV-1 remains among the highest priority areas of unmet need in infectious disease. As such, this Keystone Symposia conference was designed to bring together scientists working in the fields of HIV vaccines and/or the pathway to a cure. The program was designed to highlight recent results in both areas. The conference seeks to foster collaborations that will build upon these new results to help accelerate progress and treatment methods. The sessions in this program were developed to include a focus on novel approaches to vaccine development including vaccine immunology, passive therapies, and genetic vaccination. Additionally, results from ongoing human vaccine clinical trials will also be integrated into the conference. Moreover, sessions focused on a cure for HIV will address the problem of viral latency and how it is controlled and will emphasize cure-related human clinical trials. The conference organizers hope to elicit and identify areas of future investigation, encourage new partnerships, and collectively generate the knowledge required to design better vaccines, treatment methods, and networks that will facilitate transformative approaches to prevention and cure for this disease.
HIV research is in a phase of rapid growth and innovation for new vaccine strategies that hold promise for efficacy. This conference will occur at a critical time when novel approaches to vaccine development are coming to light, including vaccine immunology, passive therapies, and genetic vaccination; in addition results are emerging from ongoing clinical trials which will help to guide the next generation of HIV preventative and curative strategies. Therefore, this conference will bring together scientists to identify areas of future investigation, encourage new partnerships, and collectively generate the knowledge required to design better vaccines, treatment methods, and networks that will facilitate transformative approaches to prevention and cure for this disease .
