This conference grant (R13) application requests funds to partially cover the cost of planning, organizing, publicizing and hosting the 10th International KSHV and Related Agents Workshop. The Workshop will be hosted by the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI), Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and will be held July 25-29, 2007 at either The Benson Hotel or The Marriot Hotel at the Waterfront in Portland, OR. This meeting has become the premier forum for the presentation and exchange of the most recent advances in KSHV and related gamma-2 herpesviruses research. It is anticipated that approximately 170-200 scientists from around the world will attend this meeting. The latest findings in KSHV research pertaining to pathogenesis, latency, host interactions, gene expression, clinical applications, epidemiology, cell signaling, lytic replication and structure will be presented. Twelve scientific sessions will be held, each devoted to a specific topic. Each session will have a chair and co-chair, who will moderate the session and entertain questions. A Scientific Program Committee consisting of twelve members representing a broad spectrum of institutions will review abstracts and assign oral or poster presentation for each of the scientific sessions. Criteria for an oral presentation will include relevance of the topic to the theme of the meeting and the originality and quality of the information contained in the abstract. In addition, there will also be poster sessions for those meritorious presentations that cannot be accommodated in one of the twelve platform sessions. The conference will include an opening day welcome reception, a second day poster session reception, an excursion on the third day and a banquet on the fourth day of the Workshop. ? ? ? ?
