Research Project
7058925
The proposed conference, "Vivax Malaria Research: 2005 and Beyond" will take place over two days, December 9-10 2005 at The Institute for Genorinic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, MD. The conference is to be held immediately preceding the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) meeting, which takes place in Washington DC from December 11-15, since very many of the participants of the conference are expected to attend the ASTMH meeting. A broad range of experts, all with an interest in Plasmodium vivax research, will be invited, including clinicians, epidemiologists, immunologists, molecular biologists, geneticists and genomicists. Participants will be taken from a wide range of countries including the United States, Europe, South America, India, and South East Asia, with special emphasis on attendees from endemic countries and young researchers in the early part of their careers. A primary reason for holding the conference is to mark the completion of the P. vivax genome sequencing project, due to be completed in December 2005. The goals of the conference include bringing together P. vivax researchers from a multitude of disciplines and geographical locations for discussion of future priorities, including a discussion of how the genome sequence data can be used to enhance malaria research, and to provide hands-on experience of bioinformatics techniques that can be used to manipulate the Plasmodium sequence data. Topics to be covered will include discussion of the P. vivax genome, transcriptome and proteome, and that of a closely related monkey malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi that is used as a model system to study P. vivax, and sections covering identification and analysis of antigens and vaccines, antimalarial drug resistance and drug development, interaction of P. vivax with P. falciparum, epidemiology and diversity studies, vectors and transmission dynamics, and a bioinformatics workshop for researchers and students to learn to manipulate Plasmodium sequence data.
