With this R13 application we request funding to support, in part, the costs for planning, organizing, and pub- licizing the 35th Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS. This symposium will be hosted by the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC). It will be held at The Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin on August 22-25, 2017. Lodging will be offered through The Madison Concourse Hotel. In addition to the funds requested in this R13 proposal, support will come from registration fees paid by meeting participants and contributions from corporate sponsors. The overall format of the conference will begin with registration and an evening reception on August 22nd, which will be followed by a keynote address given by Dr. Deborah Persaud. There will be two and a half days of scientific presentations driven by both invited speakers and accepted oral abstracts. A poster ses- sion will occur on the evening of August 23rd, and there will be a banquet at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Monona Terrace on August 24th. At the time of writing, Dr. Bonnie Mathiesen is tentatively confirmed as the banquet speaker; she will offer her perspective on the history and impact of nonhuman primate (NHP) studies of AIDS. To highlight the broad impact of NHP models for AIDS on the study of other diseases, the meeting will include a new session devoted studies of non-SIV pathogens in NHP. The principal theme of this meeting will be ?Monkey to Bedside,? meaning that we will strive to show how NHP studies have informed the understanding of HIV pathogenesis and impacted clinical practice. We chose session topics and invited chairs to highlight different aspects of the links between basic and clinical research. Each session will open with a 25-minute talk by an invited Chair, and an invited Co-Chair will give a 10 minute presentation immediately after the coffee break. Remaining session talks will given by individuals whose abstracts were accepted for oral presentations based on the quality and originality of the submission. There will be an evening poster session for meritorious abstracts that cannot be accommodated in the oral sessions. All poster and oral abstracts will be published in the Journal of Medical Primatology (JMP), as done previously for this symposium since 1989.
Our aim i s that this program will help disseminate the latest research findings in NHP models of AIDS, while fostering an environment that will facilitate discussion between basic and clinical researchers. The ulti- mate goal of this group of researchers is to identify the most effective use of NHPs to better design interven- tions that prevent infection with HIV or maintain long term control of HIV replication. We expect including both clinical and basic research presentations will spark valuable discussion among a diverse group of researchers at different career stages. In sum, by bringing people from such a diverse array of sites, we hope to attract scientific views from people with a wide variety of backgrounds who will develop future collaborations. Together, we hope that the 35th Annual Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS Symposium will identify key ways in which the basic re- searchers can perform the most essential experiments to help the HIV community.
HIV is a major worldwide challenge, and there is an ongoing need to identify improved preventative and ther- apeutic interventions. This annual symposium will provide an environment that will promote the exchange of ideas and perspectives, and foster new collaborations, especially between junior and senior members of the research community. One major goal will be to emphasize the theme ?Monkey-to-bedside? so that research- ers can focus on maximizing the translational relevance of monkey studies of AIDS.
