): This application requests funds to enable young investigators to attend the 22nd International Herpesvirus Workshop at the University of California, San Diego, CA, USA, August 2 to August 8, 1997. This Workshop is the premier scientific meeting for herpesvirus researchers and the only meeting with an interdisciplinary focus on all the major subfamilies of herpesviruses and all aspects of research from molecular biology to clinical studies. The strength of the Workshop rests on the cross-fertilization that results from comparison of different herpesviruses and different approaches to key questions and on the support and participation of leading researchers in the field (promising young investigators and students in training). Moreover, the forum is truly international with broad-based, world-wide attendance. The medical importance of this meeting stems from the wide variety of diseases caused by the human herpesviruses. These include skin and eye ulcerations (HSV-1), genital lesions (HSV-2), meningitis and encephalitis (HSV-1 and HSV-2), infectious mononucleosis (EBV), chicken pox and shingles (VZV), and roseola (HHV-6). Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections are a major cause of mental retardation and birth defects, including hearing loss. Cancer has been associated with EBV infections, including Burkitt's lymphoma, other B-cell neoplasias and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The latest human herpesvirus to be discovered (HHV-8 or KSHV) is associated with Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients and other immunosuppressed persons and also in other groups. All of the human herpesviruses persist for life and therefore pose significant problems in the treatment of immunologically compromised persons. Cancer patients, organ transplant recipients, and AIDS patients are particularly susceptible to reactivation of latent HSV, EBV, CMV, and VZV (and probably also KSHV) resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia are problems in the elderly. Animal herpesviruses have significant economic importance to the poultry (Marek's disease virus and others), swine (pseudorabies virus), cattle (several bovine herpesviruses), and horse breeding (several equine herpesviruses) industries. In addition, these animal herpesviruses serve as model systems for studying herpesvirus pathogenesis, such as oncogenicity in Marek's disease virus and herpesvirus saimiri (monkeys). Finally, recombinant DNA technology permits the design of novel vaccines for controlling the spread of animal and human herpesvirus infections and also the design of herpesvirus vectors for gene therapy. Workshop sessions will take an interdisciplinary approach to the following topics: virus entry into cells, regulation of viral and cell gene expression, viral DNA replications, viral enzymes and non-structural proteins, viral structural proteins and assembly, latency and pathogenesis, immune response to infection, epidemiology and diagnosis, antivirals and vaccines, and gene therapy.
