By Dan Adkins

"The fact that the society decided to have its annual meeting at UK is no small thing. It shows UK has established itself as a major center for research on viruses that affect humans, animals and plants."

-- Robert Lamb, president of the American Society for Virology and professor of molecular biology and cell biology at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Northwestern University

July 18, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) -- Results of the latest research on HIV, influenza, polio and other viruses will be presented July 20 through 24 by researchers at universities around the world during the 21st annual meeting of the American Society for Virology at the University of Kentucky.

The meeting will feature a presentation on cell biology of the influenza virus hemagglutinin by Sir John Skehel, director of the United Kingdom's National Institute for Medical Research. Other presentations during the five-day meeting include "Structural Biology of Cell Invasion by HIV" by Wayne Hendrickson of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Columbia University; "Toll-like Receptors: Their Ligands and Signaling" by Shizuo Akira of Osaka University, Japan; and "RNA Silencing: An Antiviral Defense System in Plants and Animals" by David C. Baulcombe of the John Innes Center, Norwich, United Kingdom.

"The fact that the society decided to have its annual meeting at UK is no small thing. It shows UK has established itself as a major center for research on viruses that affect humans, animals and plants," said Robert Lamb, president of the American Society for Virology and professor of molecular biology and cell biology at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Northwestern University.

The meeting will feature dozens of workshops and state-of-the-art lectures, symposia and presentations over its five days at UK.

UK virolgists Said Ghabrial and Judith Lesnaw will be the hosts for the meeting.