TO: Reporters, Editors, and Producers
FROM: Seema Kumar and Eve Nichols
DATE: October 21, 1997 RE:
Whitehead Symposium 1997 Tackles Infectious Disease--A Press Invitation
Infectious diseases, once considered a scourge of the past, have re-emerged as a surprisingly complex and intractable problem. And, unless we remain vigilant and continue to develop new weapons to fight them, microbes will evolve new ways to invade our defenses, says Dr. Gerald Fink, Director of the Whitehead Institute.
A host of microbial enemies currently pose a threat to human health: some, like HIV, are new foes, and others, like tuberculosis, are old adversaries that have re-emerged in more menacing forms. Our best hope for combating these organisms comes in the form of scientific breakthroughs that promise new weapons and a better understanding of the advancing plagues. What are these breakthroughs and what intelligence have researchers gathered about modern plagues? What new weapons have they developed to fight these enemies, and how will these findings benefit the public?
At the fifteenth annual Whitehead Symposium, nearly two dozen of the world's leading experts on infectious diseases will join keynote speakers Dr. Clarence J. Peters of the Centers for Disease Control and Dr. Stanley Falkow of Stanford University School of Medicine to answer these questions, discuss the state of the knowledge in this field, and report the latest results from their laboratories.
When: Sunday, October 26 from 8 to 10:00 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday, October 27 and 28 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Special Press Luncheon: October 27, 12:30 p.m.
Where: Kresge Auditorium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Massachusetts Avenue across from the main entrance of MIT.
Topics range from pathogenesis and resistance to genomics and emerging organisms. The lectures provide the press an opportunity to gain a broad overview of the field and to catch up on the latest advances. You can also catch up with some of the speakers at a special press luncheon we have organized on October 21. If you are interested in attending the luncheon, call us.
A copy of the program is attached. If you would like to attend the keynote addresses, the lectures, and/or the press luncheon, RSVP by 3 p.m., October 24, to Seema Kumar or Eve Nichols at (617) 258-5183. Call us if you need more information. INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Whitehead Symposium XV October 26-28, 1997
Sunday, October 26
Session I 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Gerald R. Fink Welcoming Remarks
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Stanley Falkow ìThe New ëFaceà of Medical Microbiologyî
Clarence J. Peters ìViral Hemorrhagic Fevers: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrowî
Monday, October 27
Session II 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
PATHOGENESIS AND RESISTANCE
Chairperson: Staffan Normark
John Mekalanos ìGenetic and Biochemical Interplay of Virulence Factors during Cholera Pathogenesisî
Nathaniel R. Landau ìThe Role of CCóChemokine Receptor 5 in HIV Transmission and Pathogenesisî
Don Ganem ìHuman Herpesvirus 8 and the Biology of KaposiÃs Sarcomaî
Christopher T. Walsh ìMolecular Basis of Bacterial Resistance to Vancomycinî
Lunch
Session III 2:00 pm - 5:30 pm
HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIP
Chairperson: Piet Borst
Patricia Zambryski ìAgrobacterium and Plant Viruses as Probes for Movement of Single Strand Nucleic Acid - Protein Complexes into and between Plant Cellsî
Norma Windsor Andrews ìThe Role of Signal Transduction and Lysosome Recruitment in Host Cell Invasion by Trypanosomesî
Pascale Cossart ìInteractions of the Bacterial Pathogen Listeria monocytogenes with Mammalian Cells: Bacterial Factors, Cellular Ligands, Signalingî
Guy Cornelis ìThe Yersinia Yop Virulon. A New Type of Bacterial Piracyî
Tuesday, October 28
Session IV
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
IMMUNITY
Chairperson: Hidde Ploegh
Philippa Marrack ìManaging T Cellsî
Richard M. Locksley ìEffector T Cell Development: Making the Right Choiceî
Margaret A. Liu ìDNA Vaccines: Preclinical Efficacy and Mechanisms of Immunogenicityî
Louis H. Miller ìStrategies for a Blood Stage Vaccine Against Malariaî
Lunch
Session V 2:00 pm - 5:30 pm
GENOMICS AND EMERGING ORGANISMS
Chairperson: Peter S. Kim
J. Craig Venter ìThe Human Genome Project: From Microbes to Manî
Susan L. Lindquist ìThe Psi Factor, a Novel Prion-like Genetic Element in Yeastî
James M. Musser ìMolecular Population Genetics of Emerged Bacterial Pathogensî
Frederick Blattner ìSequencing Bacterial Pathogensî
SPEAKER AFFILIATIONS
Norma Windsor Andrews Yale University School of Medicine
Frederick Blattner University of Wisconsin
Piet Borst Netherlands Cancer Institute
Guy Cornelis University of Louvain Medical School
Pascale Cossart Institut Pasteur
Stanley Falkow Stanford University School of Medicine
Don Ganem Howard Hughes Medical Institute University of California, San Francisco
Peter S. Kim Howard Hughes Medical Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nathaniel R. Landau Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
Susan L. Lindquist Howard Hughes Medical Institute The University of Chicago
Margaret A. Liu Chiron Corporation
Richard M. Locksley University of California, San Francisco
Philippa Marrack Howard Hughes Medical Institute National Jewish Medical and Research Center
John Mekalanos Harvard Medical School
Louis H. Miller National Institutes of Health
James M. Musser Baylor College of Medicine
Staffan Normark Karolinska Institute
Clarence J. Peters Centers for Disease Control
Hidde Ploegh Harvard Medical School
Christopher T. Walsh Harvard Medical School
J. Craig Venter The Institute for Genomic Research
Patricia Zambryski University of California, Berkeley
MESSAGE CENTER
Telephone and message boards are located at the registration desk in the lobby of Kresge Auditorium. The symposium telephone number is 617/253-2909, and participants may give out this number to receive messages.
LUNCH
Special Press Luncheon: October 27, 12:30 p.m. at the West lounge in the MIT Student Center. On Tuesday, October 28, lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. in the MIT Student Center.
SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS
Gerald R. Fink, Chairman Herman Eisen Paul Matsudaira John Mekalanos Hidde Ploegh Richard Young
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