8^th World Congress on Virology November 28-29, 2016 San Antonio,USA

Biography:

Ting-Chao Chou has received his PhD in Pharmacology from Yale University and Postdoctoral Fellowship from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and became a Member and Professor of Pharmacology at Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1988. He is an Honorary Professor of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Visiting Professor at five universities. He has published 444 papers with 23,817 citations (Google Scholar) with h-index of 67. He has introduced The Median-Effect Theory of the Mass-Action Law (1976) and co-developed The Combination Index Theorem, CalcuSyn and CompuSyn software. His theoretical paper introducing the CI method and software has been cited 4,648 times in over 711 bio-medical journals. He is an Inventor/Co-Inventor of 39 US Patents and Founder & President of PD Science LLC, USA.

Abstract:

Quantitative determination of synergism or antagonism with the combination index theorem of Chou-Talalay and automated CompuSyn simulation has been used for anti-viral and anti-cancer drug combination studies in over 10,000 scientific papers. Over 98% of them have been 2-drug combinations in vitro. In this paper, the co-originator of the combination index (CI) method and the co-author of the CompuSyn software, will illustrate step-by-step how to design anti-HIV cocktails with 2 to 5 drug combinations in vitro using polygonogram for maximal synergy. For example, A, B, C, D and E anti-HIV agents, we can quantitatively determine the ranks of synergy of each pairs (e.g., A+B, B+C, C+D, A+C, A+D and B+D, A+E, B+E,... for lines); of each triplets (e.g., A+B+C, B+C+D, A+B+D and A+C+D, A+C+E,... for triangles); of each quartets (e.g., A+B+C+D, B+C+D+E,... for the square/rectangulars) and for all 5 drugs for the pentagon. Not all 26 possible combinatory combinations for 5 drugs need to be carried out, depending on the need. The polygonogram concept was introduced in 1994-98 by Chou TC and Chou J.H. It was designated that synergy is presented in solid red color and antagonism is presented in broken green color, for each line, triangle, rectangular and pentagon, the strength of synergism or antagonism is graded by the thickness of the solid red lines/shapes or the broken green lines/shapes. Actual experiments revealed the following findings: Polygonogram allows simple visual inspection to instantly conclude which combos yield greater synergism over others within many complicated massive amount of data and conclusions; combination with more drugs not necessarily yield more synergy; synergism or antagonism need to be determined experimentally and not to be predicted by drug mechanisms; it is possible to approximately or semi-quantitatively project the rank of synergism or antagonism of different triangles or squares/regctangulars, even prior to carrying out the actual experiments, using the components combos. It is concluded that the CI-Polygonogram provide simple, efficient and quantitative solutions to complicated drug combinations (including cocktails) with computerized automated simulations or constructions with sound theoretical basis and thus warrant important applications in pharmaceutical R&D. The currently in use anti-HIV or anti-cancer cocktails/combos, approved by Patent Office/FDA, are not necessarily represent the best/optimal combinations with maximal synergy, however, many of them have acclaimed multi-billion dollar revenues; synergy claims have become not only the scientific and regulatory issues but also the legal/litigation issues, that need a consensus to avoid the damaging consequences.

Biography:

Gamal El Sawaf is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Egypt. He is a nationally recognized leader in infectious diseases. He was graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University in 1979. He has obtained his PhD in 1993 and his Post Doctor training course in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (Cattedra Di Clinica Delle Malattie Infettive) University of Rome, Tor Vergata. He was appointed as the Head of Microbiology Department in 2008 and the Director of the Medical Technology Center in 2010 and finally, the Dean of MRI. His main fields of research activities are in the clinical aspects pathogenesis and therapy of HCV, HIV and HHV-8 infection and epidemiology and molecular characterization of hepatitis viruses in Egypt. He has acted as a Referee for a variety of national and international scientific journals and as a Referee of research projects of the Alexandria University and of the STDF projects. He is a Member of the American Society of Microbiology, The Egyptian Society of Microbiology and Egyptian Society of Immunologists. He is a Project Leader of several research programs on HCV, HHV and TB.

Abstract:

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of a microorganism (bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi) to resist the effects of antimicrobial drugs which include antibiotics, antivirals, antimalarials and antifungal. Microorganisms resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents are called multidrug resistant (MDR) or superbugs. Resistant microorganisms are increasingly difficult to treat, requiring alternative medications or higher doses which may be more costly or more toxic and poses a fundamental threat to human health, development and security. Antibiotic resistance is now a major threat to public health. A World Health Organization (WHO) report released April 2014 stated this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future; it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country. Worldwide antimicrobial resistance is not fully mapped but poorer and developing countries with weak health care systems are more affected. Within the broader context of antimicrobial resistance and the fact that resistance does not recognize political borders, resistance to antibiotics is considered the greatest and most urgent global risk requiring international and national attention. The aim of this workshop is to explore the magnitude of the problem especially in developing countries, to share knowledge and experience and to put strategies and recommendation to strengthen regulation of antimicrobials, improve knowledge and awareness and promote best practices for antimicrobial prescriptions.

Biography:

Anjali Joshi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Science at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She pursued her PhD in Feline Immunodeficiency Virus from North Carolina State University, Raleigh. Immediately after completing her PhD, she received four years of Post-doctoral training at the National Cancer Institute, Frederick on Retrovirus Assembly and Release. Her research interests include virus assembly and release, HIV pathogenesis and anti-HIV gene therapy.

Abstract:

Gene therapy remains one of the potential strategies to achieve HIV cure. One of the major limitations of anti-HIV gene therapy is recovering adequate number of modified cells to generate an HIV proof immune system. Our study addresses this issue by developing a methodology that can mark conditional vector transformed cells for selection and subsequently target HIV infected cells for elimination via treatment with Ganciclovir (GCV). We utilized the HSV Thymidine Kinase (TK) mutant SR39 that is highly potent at killing cells at low GCV concentrations. This gene was cloned into a conditional HIV vector pNL-GFPRRESA that expresses the gene of interest as well as GFP in the presence of HIV Tat protein. We show here that TK-SR39 was more potent than TK-WT at eliminating infected cells at lower concentration of GCV. As the vector expresses GFP in the presence of Tat, transient expression of Tat either via tat RNA transfection or transduction via a non-integrating lentiviral (NIL) vector marked the cells with GFP for selection. In cells selected by this strategy, TK-SR39 was more potent at limiting virus replication than TK-WT. Finally, in Jurkat cells modified and selected with this approach, infection with CXCR4 tropic Lai virus could be suppressed via treatment with GCV. GCV treatment limited the number of HIV infected cells, virus production as well as virus induced cytopathic effects in this model. We provide proof of principle that TK-SR39 in a conditional HIV vector can provide a safe and effective anti-HIV strategy.

Biography:

Aaron Berliner is a Senior Research Scientist in the Bio/Nano Group of Autodesk Research in San Francisco and a Visiting Scientist in the Arkin Laboratory of the University of California Berkeley. Aaron received both his B.A. in Biomedical Engineering and Nanotechnology his M.A. in Systems Engineering at Boston University. Prior to working at Autodesk, Aaron worked with the NASA Ames Research Center on the research and development of biological reactors for space applications. Aaron’s current research interests are astrobiology and synthetic virology

Abstract:

VirionDB is a modern, web-based, extensible, user-friendly tool designed to ease the browsing of virus genetic and metadata via filtering and faceted search. The primary pain-points of the current selection of virology databases such as NCBI, ViPR, and ViralZone is their difficult-to-understand user interface and lack of consistent viral metadata. We address the problem of confusing virus taxonomy and categorization by generatively creating dynamic and interaction-based data visualizations. These visualizations aid browsing by providing a user with on-the-fly graphical updates for each query, which augments the understanding of grouping and patterns in viral categories. We also address problems accessing and querying the data, which is typically done by bioinformatics-based scripting, by providing the non-programmer easy access to specific viral traits across such as Baltimore classification, nucleic acid type, nucleic acid strandedness, nucleic acid sense, capsid morphology, capsid envelope, taxonomy, genome shape, host category, length, virion size, icosahedral T-number, and more. Further, we standardized trait data to facilitate searches for and comparisons of viruses of interest. Selection of a specific virus provides interactive visualizations of 1D, 2D, and 3D data such as genome composition in primary structure and secondary structure, and protein and capsid quaternary structure. VirionDB also provides connections to downstream applications through links to genome design and advanced molecular modeling tools

Biography:

Girish J. Kotwal obtained his PhD in Biochemistry on VSV from McMaster University. Postdoctoral training in VV was at the NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. Worked as Assistant Member at the GIMR in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the diagnosis of HCV infection. He then joined the faculty at U. of Louisville, SOM. He joined as Professor and Chair of Medical Virology and received the Senior Wellcome Trust fellowship for biomedical Sciences in South Africa. He has worked on broad spectrum antivirals. Currently is  Adjunct Professor of Medicine at UMass. He has over 100 publications and is an inventor on patents

Abstract:

Pandemic Enveloped viruses like HIV, Influenza, Herpes viruses are a major public health problem affecting millions around the world causing morbidity and mortality. Rather than every time there is a panic due to being unprepared to deal with an emerging or emerged virus, I propose that we employ safe broad spectrum antivirals with proven capability of neutralizing a number of enveloped viruses. Along with collaborators from around the world, we have tested pomegranate juice and fulvic acid against pandemic enveloped viruses which when mixed with these viruses neutralize them. The common mechanism by which such a neutralization occurs is by interaction with the sugar moieties of the surface glycoprotein. Characterization of the enveloped virus neutralizing compounds suggest that these are heat stable small molecules less than 1000 daltons

Biography:

D T Abaver has completed his PhD from University of Abuja in Parasitology. He is a Chief Superintendent of Immigration Nigerian Immigration service, a paramilitary organization in the Ministry of Interior. He has published number of papers on HIV/AIDS, Immunology and Parasitology in reputed journals, such as African Health Science, Pakistani Journal of Medical Sciences, African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance (AJPHERD). He is a Member of Nigerian Society of Parasitology and a Fellow, Institute of Cooperate Administration. Currently, he is a Contract Researcher at Walter Sisulu University, Eastern Cape, South Africa. His research interest includes epidemiology of HIV/AIDS and other opportunistic infections, preventive measures/techniques of HIV/AIDS, gender, age and sexual orientation as determinants for the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Abstract:

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) South Africans continue to face considerable challenges, including societal stigma, homophobic violence (particularly corrective rape) and high rates of sexually transmitted diseases and infections (particularly HIV/AIDS) even when discrimination based on sexual orientation was outlawed by South African’s post-apartheid constitution. A study was conducted in a tertiary institution in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to ascertain violence, abuse and discrimination against the LGBTI sector as key factors that hinder the smooth implementation of HIV/AIDS program among sexually minority (LGBTI) group. Self-structured questionnaires were used to collect data by simple randomization selection. A total of 3048 participants (1285 male and 1763 female), aged 17-38 years, participated in this study. Though, a small number (987, 32.4%) of the participants witnessed violence against people in same gender relationship, 1557 (51.1%) participants were not aware of violence against the LGBTI sector, while 504 (16.5%) were ignorant of the societal stigma. Participants in this study indicated that the LGBTI sector in this particular tertiary institution face challenges such as abuse which includes physical (681, 22.3%), sexual (561, 18.4%), verbal (603, 19.8%) and emotional abuse (111, 3.6%). About 45.2% (1377) participants witnessed discrimination against the LGBTI sector in this institution, when 34% (1035) participants were not aware of such attitudes towards the sector. However, 20.9% (638) participants did not express their views about discrimination against the LGBTI sector. Social stigma which leads to violence, abuse and discrimination does exist in this institution. Though the knowledge of this societal stigma is in the minority among the students, there is still need to address these issues of violence, abuse and discrimination against LGBTI members in our tertiary institutions to create an enabling environment where people who belong to this sector will come out freely to access programs targeted at the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS.

Biography:

Zenab Aly Torky is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University in Egypt. She has also worked as a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Louisville, USA. She has reviewed and edited many papers for the Food Safety Journal.

Abstract:

Thiamin (B₁) and riboflavin (B₂) can act as activators and priming factors of defense mechanisms for Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) infection in Capsicum annuum plants. Effect of exogenous application of each vitamin on C. annuum leaves was demonstrated to induce defense responses and systemic resistance against TMV in the untreated parts of the plant. A concentration ranging from 0.25 to 15 mM was used of both vitamins and caused 70% of inhibition of TMV for thiamin at concentration 4 mM and 64.1% of inhibition of TMV for riboflavin at concentration 2 mM, when applied just before virus inoculation. The induction of disease resistance and reduction of virus infectivity in C. annuum leaves as indicated by virus concentration was determined by indirect ELISA and local lesion host plant assay. There is a difference in effective concentration of both vitamins which showed different percentage of inhibition with the different concentrations used. When mixing the two vitamins each at its own effective concentration, it was found that there is a synergetic effect on TMV disease reduction. To investigate the defensive enzymes responsible for the induction of resistance, the levels of Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO) and Peroxidase (POD) were examined by specific enzyme assay for each one and the accumulation of the enzymes was detected 0 to 20 days after treating with the vitamins. Also, the up-regulation and expression of the defense genes POD, PPO, PAL and some of the pathogenesis related proteins, PR4, PR9 and PR10 were studied by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Application of vitamins B1 and B2 significantly increased the activities of some of the pathogenesis related enzymes and genes. The possible correlation between timing of application of elicitors and expression of defensive genes were also studied.

Biography:

Pinn Tsin Isabel Yee was from the University’s Scholars Programme in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and she graduated with an Honours in Biochemistry. She is currently undergoing her PhD in Biology and has a MSc. in Life Sciences with Distinction conferred by Sunway University and Lancaster University (UK). She received the Tan Sri Dato Jeffrey Cheah Scholastic Award for outstanding academic excellence. She was a Module Coordinator for the Diploma of Medical Biotechnology in Singapore Polytechnic where she received the Most Outstanding Mentor award from Singapore’s Ministry of Education. She is currently a Research Fellow from the Research Centre for Biomedical Sciences at Sunway University

Abstract:

The hand, foot and mouth disease is caused by a group of Enteroviruses such as Enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) and Coxsackieviruses. Mild symptoms of EV-A71 infection in children range from high fever, vomiting, rashes and ulcers in mouth. EV-A71 can produce more severe symptoms such as brainstem encephalitis, leading to cardiopulmonary failure and death. The lack of approved vaccines against EV-A71 highlights the urgency of developing preventive agents against EV-A71 to prevent further fatalities. The molecular basis of virulence in EV-A71 is still uncertain. In this study, the EV-A71 virus (5865/Sin/000009) was genetically modified by substituting nucleotides at positions 2735, 2875, 3167, 3173, 6129 and creating a partial deletion (PD, ∆11bp) of the 5’-NTR region. Amongst the 6 mutants, mutants 2735, 3167 and 3173 were constructed through codon-deoptimsation. The virulence of the mutated EV-A71 strains were evaluated in Rhabdomyosarcoma cell culture by tissue culture infectious dose (TCID₅₀) determinations and real time Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Mutants 2735 and 3173 had minimal cytopathic effects when compared to mutants 2875, 3167, 6129 and PD when transfected into RD cells. This was consistent with the RT-PCR results that showed the viral RNA copy number for mutants 2735, 3173 and 6129 to be of lowest amount. Analysis of the TCID₅₀ values indicates that mutants 2735 and 3173 were attenuated five-fold as compared to the wild type. Hence, the nucleotides at C2735 and C3173 maybe potential molecular determinants in EV-A71 and should be subject to further evaluations by other tests in vitro and in vivo

Biography:

Mohammad M. Hossain has completed his Ph.D. from Osaka University, Japan. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals and has been working with Dr. Raymond R. R. Rowland. Recently, he has been involved in a collaborative research program between Kansas State University and ABADRU, USDA, Manhattan, Kansas, USA

Abstract:

Despite enormous progress in vaccine development, new emerging and reemerging microbial threats are a global challenge. For effective disease surveillance, rapid and sensitive assays are needed to detect antibodies developed in response to human and animal virus infections. In recent years, multiplex platforms, which allow detection of antibodies to multiple pathogens in the same sample, have had significant improvements in the diagnosis of numerous infectious diseases in humans and animals. In this assay, fluorescent labeled protein A, G, and A/G are utilized in the place of species-specific secondary antibodies. Protein A, G, and A/G conjugates recognize a broad range of mammalian immunoglobulins allowing the detection of antibodies to several animal viruses that infect livestock species. In this study, we developed a multiplexed fluorescent microsphere immunoassay (FMIA) for detection of viral recombinant antigen specific antibodies in serum samples.  Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) nucleocapsid protein (N), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and classical swine fever virus (CSFV) glycoprotein E2 and Erns, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) (N), porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) capsid proteins (CP) were used as recombinant antigens in a multiplex FMIA. The results were reported as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) and MFI converted to positive per sample (S/P) ratio. With the use of the S/P ratio cutoff value of 0.4 in negative sera were evaluated. The use of conjugates A, G, and A/G in FMIA would be a powerful strategy for detection of viral infection in veterinary diagnostic laboratory.

Biography:

Dr. Joseph L. Mathew works at the Advanced Pediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. He has contributed extensively to evidence-based policy-making for several vaccines in the Indian context, especially Hepatitis B, Hib, IPV, MMR, PCV, Influenza, Varicella, acellular pertussis, HPV, Rotavirus, and typhoid conjugate vaccines. He is one of the first to identify the rapid waning of maternal measles antibodies in infancy, creating a pool of susceptible infants/children. Dr. Mathew has nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications to his credit and delivered numerous presentations related to vaccinology in national and international meetings.

Abstract:

Despite three decades of universal infant measles vaccination, India has the world’s largest measles burden. Vaccination in India (as in most developing countries) is timed at 9 months of age expecting infant protection through maternal (transplacental) antibodies till then, although this has not been proven scientifically. We conducted two prospective cohort studies in 2005 and 2015 (coinciding with 20 and 30 years of universal vaccination) to evaluate measles susceptibility in infants and to identify the appropriate age for vaccination. In these studies, anti-measles IgG antibodies were measured by quantitative ELISA in 60 and 130 infants at birth, 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months (prior to vaccination). Susceptibility was determined by antibody titre <200 mIU/ml. The first study (2005) showed that 0%, 12%, 51% and 100% infants were susceptible at birth, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months respectively. The second study (2015) confirmed susceptibility in 0%, 23%, 84%, and 100% infants. Preterm infants were more susceptible that term infants at 3 months and 6 months. These data suggest that most Indian infants become susceptible to measles well before the age of routine infant vaccination. Further the two time series showed that more infants were susceptible in 2015 than 2005; this could be due to greater proportion of mothers having vaccine-induced immunity than natural immunity. These data argue for earlier (rather than later) vaccination with measles vaccine in India and probably other developing countries also. This novel approach resembles serving old wine in a new bottle.

Biography:

Mr. Surya Subedi has completed his Master drgree (M.sc) at the age of 27 years from Tribhuvan University Nepal, in Medical Microbiology. He is the Lecturer of Charikot Campus, Kalinchok Higher Secondary School, Tsho Rolpa Nursing College and Microbiologist of Tsho-Rolpa General Hospital. He has published 2 articles and one on process till yet. He had already worked in apical research institute of Nepal, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). He is enthusiastic, laborious having dogged determination in scientific research. He is well disciplined and I are proud of having Surya Subedi as my student on master level as well as supervisor.

Abstract:

The great earthquake of magnitude 7.8 _Mw hit on April 25, 2015 killed over 8000 people, injured more than 21,000 and many are missing. The great earthquake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks in which Dolakha was struck again by earthquake on 12 may with epicenter in Dolakha district with magnitude of 7.3 _Mw followed by hundreds of aftershocks in which about 87% houses were fully damaged. In Nepal outbreak of influenza usually occurs between December and March. After the devastating earthquake, outbreak of influenza occurred in February 2016 and they were confirmed as Influenza A (H₃N₂) and influenza B.

After local public health centre (PHC) reported the symptoms, medical team went and suspected it as influenza outbreak in first and second case. Investigation was made where the patients were suffering from common symptoms. Public awareness program was conducted immediately at different places. Samples were collected and dispatched to laboratory immediately which were subjected to reverse transcription PCR for sub-typing of influenza.

The first outbreak was prevalent in all age groups and the rate of transmission was high. No death was reported in this outbreak whereas Complications whereas three were suffered from pneumonia while one from bronchitis. The first outbreak was confirmed as (H₃N₂). The second outbreak was only in children of age below 14. Among 300 children, 246 were suffered from infection. Symptoms were common in all children. No complications were seen beside general symptoms. It was confirmed as influenza B on lab diagnosis.

Influenza can outbreak in disastrous area in epidemic influenza season. The transmission route is direct contact with infected person, use of person goods, sharing of room, space and by aerosols. If public awareness and care taken, it can be controlled