Prof. Dr. Reinhard Burger, Prof. Dr. Stephan Ludwig and Prof. Dr. Ron Fouchier
(Photo P. Grewer)
To continue our commitment against influenza and to be prepared for the next outbreak we need further global efforts to understand viral mechanisms, host-pathogen interactions and immunological pathways. It was the aim of the 3rd International Influenza Meeting to bring together experts from all over the world to discuss and exchange the most recent research results in an international environment and to create new collaborations.
The meeting took place at the University of Muenster. More than 270 researchers from 24 countries participated in the meeting. The 3rd International Influenza Meeting was opened by the president of the Robert Koch-Institute, Reinhard Burger. Further welcome notes were given by Stephan Ludwig (University of Muenster, Germany), the coordinator of the FluResearchNet.
The opening lecture was given by Yoshihiro Kawaoka (Madison, USA), who talked about the epic journey to publish ferret H5N1 transmission studies. Ron Fouchier (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) opened the first session “Pathogenesis” with the keynote lecture “Transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 Virus via Aerosol or Respiratory Droplets between Ferrets”. Further sessions about the NS1 protein as a modulator of cell responses, innate immunity, influenza and the lung, vaccines and antivirals and virus cell interaction were opened inter alia by the invited speakers Jon McCullers (Memphis, USA), Joseph P. Mizgerd (Boston, USA) and Juan Ortin (Madrid, Spain). Within the sessions, researchers presented the most recent results – an interesting mixture between overview and current research aspects, which offered an opportunity for scientific discussions. The sessions were accompanied by poster presentations – 130 scientists presented their work in form of a poster.