The 8th Conference in the series Drug Abuse, Immunomodulation and AIDS will be held March 22-25, 2001 in the Emory University Conference Center and will be entitled Neuroimmune Connections in Infectious Disease and NeuroAIDS. The vision of the conference will be to highlight the basic mechanisms by which various drugs alter neuroimmune circuits causing modulation of the immune system's response to infectious disease. The role of drug abuse in the progression of HIV-1 infection to AIDS and the infiltration of the central nervous system leading to neuroAIDS and dementia will be highlighted. The goals of the meeting include the presentation of the most current data in this area and vigorous discussion of its implications; the training of the next generation of researchers and clinicians to work on the problems; and the publication of a book of the key presentations to make the results of the meeting available to those unable to attend. The methods by which the goals will be accomplished include six symposia of invited and submitted papers plus a discussion panel after each, a poster session, and informal discussions between sessions. To obtain the best papers for presentation, a group of approx. 40 individuals has been solicited for their recommendations on the best and most recent data, published and unpublished. A program committee will then evaluate the submissions and decide on the final program. The poster session will feature the work of approx. 10 young investigators who will be funded by this grant to attend the meeting. Along with these 10, students and residents attending member schools in the Georgia Neuroscience Consortium will be invited to attend the meeting and present their results. Members of the Consortium include the 4 Georgia Medical Schools (Emory, Morehouse, Mercer and Augusta) and the major public colleges (Georgia State, Georgia and Georgia Tech). Further local participation will be obtained via contacts at the CDC, the Emory CFAR (NIDA) and the Yerkes Primate Center, all of which are headquartered within a few hundred yards of the Conference Center.
