Performing Department
Pathobiol. & Diag. Invest.
Non Technical Summary
Marek's disease (MD), infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT), and duck viral enteritis (DVE) are all economically important poultry diseases caused by herpesviruses. MD has an estimated worldwide economic impact of $2+ billion annually and increasingly virulent MDV strains pose a substantial threat to US and worldwide poultry production and food security. The USAHA committee on transmissible diseases of poultry has consistently and most recently ranked MD among the top five diseases of concern, and both MD and ILT are listed as high priority research needs by other poultry-associated funding agencies. Conferences that bring together scientists are an integral part of scientific research. The 1st International MD Symposium was held in 1978 and has evolved to include other avian herpesviruses, such as ILT. The first 9 symposia have been highly successful and have been essential for the continued progress in the field of avian herpesvirus research. The 10th International Symposium on Marek's Disease and Avian Herpesviruses will be held in East Lansing, Michigan from July 20-23, 2014. The meeting will include food security priority topics, such as the development of genetic/genomic data management, bioinformatics, and using these resources to develop improved genetic poultry lines. The ultimate success or failure of any international meeting is almost totally related to the degree of participation. To encourage participation of attendees early in their career, the $10,000 conference grant will be used to support travel of graduate students and postdoctoral assistants.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
70%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Marek's disease (MD), infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT), and duck viral enteritis (DVE) are all economically important poultry diseases caused by herpesviruses. MD has an estimated worldwide economic impact of $2+ billion annually and increasingly virulent MDV strains pose a substantial threat to US and worldwide poultry production and food security. The USAHA committee on transmissible diseases of poultry has consistently and most recently ranked MD among the top five diseases of concern, and both MD and ILT are listed as high priority research needs by other poultry-associated funding agencies. Conferences that bring together scientists are an integral part of scientific research. The meeting will include food security priority topics, such as the development of genetic/genomic data management, bioinformatics, and using these resources to develop improved genetic poultry lines. The ultimate success or failure of any international meeting is almost totally related to the degree of participation. To encourage participation of attendees early in their career, the $10,000 conference grant will be used to help offset meeting costs as well as support for travel of graduate students and postdoctoral assistants.
Project Methods
The meeting will consist of (1) three keynote lectures, (2) 53 short oral presentations, (3) poster sessions, and (4) receptions to promote the exchange of information and help stimulate working collaborations. And to ensure that the "next generation" of well-trained scientists enters this scientific field, we will provide travel scholarships to US students and postdoctoral associates.