Meeting announcement - Pseudotype viruses - applications and troubleshooting

Wednesday, 02 October 2013 09:00 - 17:00

Event Web Site: www.regonline.co.uk/pseuVirus2013

The Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Gunnels Wood Road
Stevenage
Hertfordshire
SG1 2FX
United Kingdom

Pseudotype viruses are rapidly establishing themselves as important research and diagnostic tools of basic and clinical scientists facilitating the detailed study of individual viral genes, host cell receptors and highly pathogenic viruses, circumventing the need for high-level biosafety containment. The switching of surface envelope proteins expressed on the surface of these pseudotypes enables them to be used as surrogate viruses in neutralization/antiviral screening assays and for the study of cell–virus receptor interactions. This meeting encompasses the many diverse applications of pseudotype technologies from a practical, translational and public health perspective.

Meeting Chair: Dr Nigel James Temperton,
Medway School of Pharmacy, The Universities of Greenwich and Kent, KentThis event has CPD accreditation

Who Should Attend

Public and animal health scientists.
Individuals establishing diagnostic assays for viruses.
Epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists, R&D, pre-clinical vaccinologists.

Talks include
Virus pseudotypes and pandemic preparedness
Dr Nigel James Temperton, Medway School of Pharmacy, The Universities of Greenwich and Kent, Kent

Current progress with serological assays for exotic emerging/re-emerging viruses
Dr Janet Daly, Nottingham University, UK
Challenges exist in the development of serological assays for (re-)emerging viruses. Work with live virus is often restricted to specialised containment laboratories, thus limiting capacity to perform traditional serological assays such as the plaque reduction neutralisation test (PRNT). Diagnosis by ELISA-based assays using killed virus or purified or recombinant viral proteins offer an alternative. However, ELISA-based assays are often less specific than PRNT. Sample volume may be limited, for example where cerebrospinal fluid samples are required to confirm a viral cause of encephalitis. Pseudotype virus neutralisation assays offer the potential to address many of these issues.
Retroviral pseudotypes for equine vaccine serology
Dr Simon Scott, Medway School of Pharmacy, University of Kent, UK

Interrogating the antibody response to rabies and lyssaviruses using retroviral pseudotyping
Dr Edward Wright, Westminster University, UK
Rabies virus is responsible for ~70,000 human deaths a year even though highly efficacious vaccines are available. A reliable figure for the number of deaths due to related lyssavirus species is unknown. Within the lyssavirus genus there are 11 species that can be classified into phylogroups, based primarily on their antibody cross neutralisation profile. As the lyssavirus glycoprotein is the major target of a neutralising antibody response a pseudotype-based neutralisation assay was developed to elucidate the importance of known glycoprotein epitopes in virus neutralisation. The assay has also proved useful for sero-epidemiological studies and testing existing and novel antivirals.

The Deadline for abstract submissions for oral presentation is July 10th 2013
Abstracts for poster presentation only can be submitted up to two weeks before the event
There will be a best poster prize.
You can download the instructions for authors at
www.euroscicon.com/AbstractsForOralAndPosterPresentation.pdf