Retrovirology Blog
Aine McKnight wins BioMed Central Research Award with her Retrovirology paper
The posting below is copied in part from the BMC Blog posting made by Hilary Glover this morning (our congratulations to Aine McKnight for her award winning paper published in Retrovirology):
BioMed Central presented its 6th Annual Research Awards last night at Emirates Stadium, London, UK. Celebrating the very best research that has been made available by open access publishing, more than 100 guests attended the prestigious ceremony including leading researchers, shortlisted authors and science journalists from around the world.
The winners were selected by internationally renowned judges from over 230 BioMed Central journals which published more than 18,000 peer-reviewed open access articles over the last 12 months.
BioMed Central Research Award
The overall winner of the prestigious BioMed Central Research Award, selected from a shortlist consisting of the winners of the 10 subject categories, was Áine McKnight Professor of Viral Pathology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London (Microbiology, Immunology, Infection and Inflammation Prize) for her work ‘A whole genome screen for HIV restriction factors’ Retrovirology 2011, 8:94
Áine was educated in Dublin, Ireland. She studied for her PhD with Professors Robin Weiss and Paul Clapham on antibody mediated neutralization and tropism of HIV (at ICR and UCL, London). As an early Research Wellcome Trust Career Fellow, and later as a Medical Research Council (UK) Senior Fellow, she developed her own research interest into the pathology of HIV and factors that restrict infection of the host target cell by HIV.
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 13:06 Comments (0)
Monsef Benkirane elected new EMBO member
Retrovirology Associate Editor Monsef Benkirane has been elected as a new 2012 EMBO member. Fifty-five new members were elected this year. Election is based on scientific excellence and is one of the highest honors bestowed on European and international scientists. Please see the following link for more details. http://www.embo.org/documents/EMBO_new_members_2012.pdf We congratulate Monsef for this deserving recognition.
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 21:31 Comments (0)
HIV research at the University of Nebraska School of Medicine
I had the opportunity to visit the University of Nebraska School of Medicine, this past Friday (May 4th). Dr. Howard Gendelman invited me there to give a seminar. For those of you who think that Omaha, Nebraska has only one attraction (Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway), you should think again. University of Nebraska is a terrific hub of HIV-1 neurobiology research headed by Gendelman http://www.unl.edu/virologycenter/faculty/gendelman.shtml. I also had the opportunity to see again Steve Hinrichs http://www.unmc.edu/pathology/hinrichs_steven.htm who postdoc'd with George Khoury at the same time as I did 25 years ago; and also Howard Fox http://www.unmc.edu/publicrelations/HowardFox.htm. I had visited the University approximately 15 years ago, and it is an eye-opener for me to see the tremendous progress that has transpired in the ensuing years. If you are interested in HIV-1 neurovirology, Omaha is a stop worth making the next time you are in middle-America.
Kuan-Teh Jeang, Steve Hinrichs, and Howard Fox in Omaha, Nebraska.
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 22:00 Comments (0)
Jeremy Luban elected to the AAP
Retrovirology Editorial Board member Jeremy Luban has been elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP) http://aap-online.org/. Election to the AAP is regarded as one of the most prestigious recognitions for a research physician. Below is a picture taken of Jeremy Luban at the April 29th, 2012 AAP induction dinner at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.
TC Wu, Kuan-Teh Jeang, and Jeremy Luban at the AAP induction dinner April 29, 2012
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 13:24 Comments (0)
The BMC 6th Annual Research Award selection has just announced its category winners. In the Microbiology, Immunology, Infection and Inflammation category, amongst all BMC published papers that were nominated, the winning paper is one published in Retrovirology by Aine McKnight
"A whole genome screen for HIV restriction factors Retrovirology 2011, 8:94 " http://www.retrovirology.com/content/8/1/94
All category winners are on the short list of papers that will compete for the overall BioMed Central Research Award. Stay tuned for that announcement soon.
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 14:25 Comments (0)
Steve Goff speaks on retroviruses at the NIH Wednesday Afternoon Lecture April 11
Steve Goff spoke on "Silencing of Retrovirus Expression in Embryonic Stem Cells and A New Retroelement in the Mollusc Mya arenaria" at the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series at the NIH on April 11, 2012. Goff's presentation is available as a webcast at http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?Live=10519 Goff's lecture was hosted by the NIH Virology interest Group (http://sigs.nih.gov/VIG/Pages/default.aspx)
At dinner --- (from left to right) Andy Dayton, Kuan-Teh Jeang, Pam Schwartzberg, Malcolm Martin,Fadila Bouamr, Bernard Lafont, Steve Goff
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 23:17 Comments (0)
New Retrovirology Editor and Editorial Board Members
Retrovirology welcomes Dr. Persephone (Seph) Borrow of University of Oxford as a new Associate Editor. Seph takes Michael Lairmore's place. At the end of 2011, Michael moved from Ohio State University to assume the Deanship of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. We thank Michael for his many years of excellent service to the journal, and we look forward to Seph's expertise and contributions to Retrovirology.
We also thank departing editorial board members Chou-zen Giam, David Harrich, Stephen M. Smith, Truus Abbink, and Tatsuo Shioda. We welcome new board members Philip Norris, David O'Connor, Alessandro Marcello, Carine van Lint, and Mineki Sato.
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 17:30 Comments (0)
This following is being posted on behalf of Pat Green who writes:
Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD, Director, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, Nick and Sue Hellmann Distinguished Professor of Translational Medicine, Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Co-Director, UCSF-GIVI Center for AIDS Research UCSF, received the 2012 Ohio State University Center for Retrovirus Research Distinguished Research Career Award. The award is given annually, recognizes a member of the retrovirology community for seminal contributions to the fields of basic virology, cell biology, cancer and immunodeficiency. More information about the Award is available at http://vet.osu.edu/retrovirus-research/award
Warner Greene (center) receives the OSU Award crystal from Patrick L. Green (right) and Li Wu (left).
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 17:15 Comments (0)
HTLV articles of potential interest
On an occasional basis, I bring to the attention of Retrovirology readers, publications of interest in other journals. Recently Mineki Saito wrote the following to me. Please go to the indicated link to view these HTLV papers.
"Last year, Prof Charles Bangham, Dr Pooja Jain, Dr Kunihiro Tsukasaki and myself planned to publish a HTLV-1 special issue of the Leukemia Research and Treatment, a new online journal. This issue is now available for free download at the URL below. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/lrt/si/107319/
Since this Journal is new and not indexed on Pubmed at present, I would like to ask you if it is possible for you to announce this."
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 14:05 Comments (0)
Presentation of Retrovirology Prize Trophy in Kyoto
An international symposium on Infection, Immunity, and Cancer was held January 16-17, 2012 at Kyoto University, Kyoto Japan. The symposium brought together speakers from Japan, the USA, Taiwan, Germany, and Australia. The symposium was organized by Prof. Masanori Hatakeyama of Tokyo University and Prof. Masao Matsuoka of Kyoto University. The setting of this symposium was an opportune occasion for the presentation of the 2011 Retrovirology Prize trophy to Prof. Masao Matsuoka.
Presentation of the Retrovirology Prize trophy by Kuan-Teh Jeang (left) to Masao Matsuoka (right)
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 21:56 Comments (0)
SCImago SJR 2011 ranks Retrovirology second from the top of "virology" journals
Thomson Reuters - ISI uses Scientific Citation Index to rate journals according to Impact Factor. A competing organization SJR http://scimagojr.com/ employs the Scopus citation database to rank journals in different sub-disciplines.
For 2011, the SJR ranks Retrovirology second from top amongst virology journals. (see Table below)
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 17:00 Comments (0)
HIV-1 Keystone Meeting, Whistler, Canada, Mar 26-31, 2012
Eric Freed has asked me to post the following announcement about the HIV-1 Keystone meeting in Whistler, Canada. I would encouraged interested colleague to attend this meeting or to contact Eric (efreed@mail.nih.gov) for more information.
Announcing Keystone Symposia’s Meeting on “Frontiers in HIV Pathogenesis, Replication and Eradication”
Apply for a scholarship, submit an abstract and register for Keystone Symposia’s conference on “Frontiers in HIV Pathogenesis, Replication and Eradication,” which takes place March 26–31, 2012 at Whistler Conference Centre in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.
Organized by Alan N. Engelman of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Eric O. Freed of National Cancer Institute at Frederick and John M. Coffin of Tufts University, the conference will: Convene with keynote addresses by Stephen C. Harrison of Harvard Medical School and Robert F. Siliciano of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on the evening of Monday, March 26 followed by four days of informative plenary sessions, workshops and poster sessions; Unites themes from HIV pathogenesis, HAART (highly-active antitretroviral therapy) and persistence fields at an unprecedented level;
· Better understand mechanisms that drive the formation and maintenance of persistent HIV-infected cells;
· Identify new targets for drug development;
· Examine mechanisms of HIV-1 drug resistance;
· Mentor new investigators and under-represented minorities in science communication and research collaboration.
The meeting is being jointly held with the Keystone Symposia meeting on “Cell Biology of Virus Entry, Replication and Pathogenesis.” Two plenary sessions and the keynote session will be shared, and registered attendees of one meeting are free to participate in sessions of the other, pending space availability. Short talks will be selected from submitted abstracts.
Discounted registration rates are available for students, and scholarships are available to students and postdoctoral fellows.
Deadlines: Abstract & Scholarship – November 29, 2011 / Late-Breaking Abstract – January 4, 2012/ Early Registration Deadline – January 26, 2012
To submit an abstract, register and view the full meeting program, please visit www.keystonesymposia.org/12X8 and for an up-to-date meeting flyer, visit http://keystonesymposia.org/Meetings/MeetingFlyer.cfm?MeetingID=1166.
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 19:13 Comments (0)
There is still time to register for 23rd Retroviral Pathogenesis Meeting, Montpellier, France
The 23rd Retroviral Pathogenesis meeting will take place in Montpellier on November 2-5, 2011. The meeting is organized by Marc Sitbon, Jean-Luc Battini, Valerie Courgnaud and Hung Fan.
The website for the meeting is : http://23retropath.igmm.cnrs.fr/ You can also view the program at: http://23retropath.igmm.cnrs.fr/spip.php?rubrique1
This is an exciting meeting for which you still have time to register. If you need further information, please email Marc Sitbon at marc.sitbon@igmm.cnrs.fr
Posted by Srimathy Sriskantharajah at 10:03 Comments (0)
Retrovirology editors attended the Frontiers of Retrovirology Conference, Amsterdam
Seven Retrovirology editors (Ben Berkhout, Monsef Benkirane, Ariberto Fassati, Masa Fujii, Andrew Lever, Mark Wainberg, and Kuan-Teh Jeang) attended and presented research findings at the recent Frontiers of Retrovirology conference in Amsterdam. A photo of Ariberto, Teh, Masa and Andrew is pictured below. Mark your calendar early and reserve your schedule to attend the fall 2013 Frontiers meeting which will take place in Cambridge, England. Come and meet Retrovirology editors.
Ariberto, Teh, Masa, and Andrew
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 13:34 Comments (0)
Four poster prize winners at the Frontiers of Retrovirology Conference, Amsterdam
Four young investigators were awarded Poster Prizes at the Frontiers of Retrovirology meeting in Amsterdam, held October 3 - 5, 2011. Their names and poster topics are listed below. Also below are photos of Ben Berkhout, chair of the meeting organizing committee, awarding the poster prizes to the recipeints. Support by The AIDS Fonds, Netherlands, for these prizes is gratefully acknowledged.
Anna Kula, Laboratory of Molecular Virology, ICGEB, Trieste, Italy Characterization of the HIV-1 RNA associated proteome identifies Matrin3 and PSF as nuclear cofactors of Rev function.
Pieter J. Meuwissen, HIV Laboratory, Ghent University, Belgium Nef interferes with development of thymic T cell precursors: differential mechanisms in HIV and SIV.
Thijs van Montfort, Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Stable HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein immune complexes as vaccine immunogens.
Atsushi Koito, Dept of Retrovirology, Kumamoto University, Japan Intrinsic restriction activity by apoB mRNA editing enzyme APOBEC1 against the mobility of retroelements
Pieter, Thijs, and Anna with Ben.
Ben and Atsushi
Posted by Kuan-Teh Jeang at 13:22 Comments (0)