Source: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA submitted to NRP
14TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MAREK`S DISEASE AND AVIAN HERPESVIRUSES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1032005
Grant No.
2024-67015-42143
Cumulative Award Amt.
$25,000.00
Proposal No.
2024-03568
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
May 1, 2024
Project End Date
Apr 30, 2025
Grant Year
2024
Program Code
[A1221]- Animal Health and Production and Animal Products: Animal Health and Disease
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
200 D.W. BROOKS DR
ATHENS,GA 30602-5016
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Poultry is a crucial animal production sector that provides prime and sustainable human protein consumption. Infectious diseases, however, pose a continued threat to poultry production. Among the many poultry diseases, managing endemicavian herpesvirusesis essential to sustain profitable poultry production. Understanding the intricate biology and evolution pathways of these ever-evolving large DNA viruses is not a simple task. It requires lifelong research collaborations and multidisciplinary areas of investigation. The International Symposium on Marek's Disease Virus and Avian Herpesvirus (MDAH) is the premier conference on avian herpesvirus. This USDA NIFA grant will help support the participation of laboratories worldwide studying avian herpes viruses to attend the Symposium. Funds from this grant will defray meeting registration and some of the lodging costs for participating graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Through this grant, we anticipate that the 14th Symposium will provide access to new knowledge and a friendly professional community for the next generation of avian herpes virologists to nourish new contacts for future multidisciplinary collaborations and career opportunities.?
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
31132991101100%
Knowledge Area
311 - Animal Diseases;

Subject Of Investigation
3299 - Poultry, general/other;

Field Of Science
1101 - Virology;
Goals / Objectives
The International Symposium on Marek's Disease Virus and Avian Herpesvirus (MDAH) is the premier meeting were researchers that study Avian Herpesvirus biology, evolution, control, and epidemiology meet every two years. The 2024 14th MDAH meeting will be held at the Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, from July 12 to 14. We are expecting to host a diverse group of attendees including graduate students, postdocs, and researchers representing academia, government, and commercial organizations from North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. The aim of this proposal is to secure funding to defray registration and some of the housing cost of postdocs and graduate students participating in the 2024 Symposium.Facilitating their participation will ensure that a new generation of diverse scientists receive access to current knowledge on avian herpesvirus, built community, discuss science, and nourish new contacts for future multidisciplinary collaborations and career opportunities.
Project Methods
We requested $25,000 in funds to help defray registration and some travel costs of postdocs and graduate students participating in the conference.We anticipate that between 25 to 30 postdocs and graduate students will be participating in the conference. The early registration fee is $500.00 per attendee. Therefore, with this funding we can provide between $800 to $1000 per postdoc or graduate student to cover registration costs and some of the lodging costs.

Progress 05/01/24 to 04/08/25

Outputs
Target Audience:The avian herpesviruses community of researchers includes a diverse group of graduate students, postdocs, and researchers representing academia, government, and commercial organizations from North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Africa. The target audience that this Conference grant (14064699) benefited were early career scientists in avian herpesvirus, including postdoctoral fellows and PhD students. The NIFA grant allowed the defrayal of registration for 32 postdocs and PhD students. It also supported some of the travel costs for this early career scientist, who presented most of the papers and posters at the conference. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Considering that among the 163 Symposium participants were professionals representing the poultry industry, the biological sectors, academia, and government. A panel discussion on career development was consucte that included a question-and-answer section in which postdocs and PhD students had the opportunity to discuss future career pathways with different professionals. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To maintain communication among the participants after the meeting, we circulated a summary of the symposium findings via email and shared the email addresses of all the participants. In addition, we have sent all this information to the next host of the meeting in 2026. In this way, we maintain the group's cohesiveness, which we hope will continue to grow in the coming years. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The main goal we pursued with the Conference Grant (14064699) was to strengthen the participation of early-career scientists in the 14th Mareks Disease and Avian Herpesvirus (MDAH) International Symposium. One of the more significant achievements of the 14th MDAH Symposium was the showcase of the work of early career postdocs and PhD students. Of the 46 oral presentations and 27 posters that composed the scientific program of the Symposium, 27 oral presentations and nine posters were offered by postdocs or PhD students. These numbers indicate that the core of the Symposium scientific program was a display of the work of early career researchers and underscored our most significant achievement.

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