Regional AIDS workshop on Research, Trials and Treatment” 1st-8th August 2004

[Guest guest]

Dear Colleagues,

I am posting below the announcement of a Regional AIDS

Workshop-Symposium to be held in Bangalore from August 1 to 8, 2004. If

you wish to respond to this, please do not write to me, use the email

address provided in the announcement.

Thank you,

Vinayaka Prasad. E-mail: <prasad@...>

“AIDS in India: A Regional Workshop-Symposium on Research, Trials and

Treatment” 1st-8th August 2004

Dear Colleagues,

This is to announce the “AIDS in India: A Workshop-Symposium on

Research, Trials and Treatment” to be held between 1st August 2004 to

8th August 2004 and jointly organized by the AIDS International

Training and Research Program (AITRP) of the Albert Einstein College of

Medicine (AECOM), Bronx, New York, National Institute for Mental Health

and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore, India, Jawaharalal Nehru Center

for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India, Indian

Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and co-sponsored by the National

Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NIH, USA, National Institute of

Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH and the Einstein/MMC

Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Bronx, New York.

The workshop is open to citizens of all SAARC countries: Bangladesh,

Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Applications

are invited from interested individuals (basic and clinical AIDS

researchers as well as clinicians who regularly treat AIDS patients

with intentions to begin AIDS research) to participate in this 8-day

Workshop-Symposium to be held at the NIMHANS and JNCASR Campuses in

Bangalore, India. See below for instructions on how to apply. The

workshop includes three components.

A. “Hands-on” course: Will impart experience in using techniques

covering several key virological and immunological methods including

(a) Use of lentiviral vectors for gene delivery (Ganjam Kalpana); (

Measurement of viral load and drug susceptibility in HIV (Pheroze

Joshi); © Determination of CD4 T-cell counts (d) Heteroduplex

Mobility shift Assay (HMA) (Raj Shankarappa and Jim Mullins); (e) Use

of reporter cell lines for HIV (Uday Kumar); (f) ELISPOT assay (Amara

Ramarao) and (g) Luciferase assay to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis

(Vanaja Kumar).

B. Round-table discussion series: These are 3- to 5- session series

covering basic-to-advanced aspects of: (a) Ethics in clinical trials

and medical research; ( Antiretroviral treatment modalities; ©

Fundamentals of Epidemiology and Statistics; (d) AIDS prevention in

adolescents; (e) Design of Clinical Trials; (f) Vaccine Trials (g)

Blood safety and (h) Grant-writing workshop.

Round Table Session Leaders:

Laurie Bauman, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY

Ernest Drucker, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY

Madelon Halula, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

NIH, DHHS

Latha Jagannathan, Bangalore Medical Services Trust, Bangalore, India

Japour, Miami Beach, Florida, FL

Amar Jesani, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics and CEHAT, Mumbai

Kirker, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

NIH, DHHS

Ruth Macklin, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY

Marty Markowitz, Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, NY

Marantz, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY

Mayer, Brown University/Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI

Sunil Mehra, MAMTA, New Delhi, India

Priti Mehrotra, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,

NIH, DHHS

Reiss, New York Blood Center, New York, NY

K. S. Satish, Seva Clinic, Bangalore, India

a S. Strickland, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious

Diseases, NIH, DHHS

Vasanthapuram Ravi, National Institute of Mental Health and

Neurosciences, Bangalore

Niloo Vaishnav, Bhavnagar Blood Bank, Bhavnagar, India

C. Symposium: A two-day event on 2nd and 3rd August includes plenary

lectures and talks, with separate sessions for HIV/AIDS, Vaccine and

Prevention Strategies for AIDS, Neuro-AIDS and Opportunistic infections

of AIDS. Features several distinguished speakers from India and US.

Session I: HIV/AIDS

Mark A. Wainberg, McGill University AIDS Centre, Montreal, Canada

Tasin Azim, ICDDR, B, Center for Health and Population Research,

Bangladesh

N. K. Ganguly, Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research,

New Delhi, India

Sridharan Gopalan, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India

Shahid Jameel, International Center for Genetic Engineering and

Biotechnology, New Delhi, India

Ganjam V. Kalpana, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Ruth Macklin, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Sundarasamy Mahalingam, Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics,

Hyderabad, India

Debashis Mitra, National Center for Cell Science, Pune, India

Robin Mukhopadhyaya, Institute for Cancer Research, Mumbai, India

I. Mullins, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Vinayaka Prasad, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Raj Shankarappa, MCP Hahnemann School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, NY

Session II: Vaccine and Prevention Strategies

Shekhar Chakraborty, National Institute for Cholera and Enteric

Diseases, Calcutta, India

Amara Ramarao, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Ramesh Paranjpe, National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, India

N. K. Mehra, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Vijay Mehra, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, New York, NY

Laurie Baumann, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Marty Markowitz, Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, NY

Mayer, Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI

Session III: Opportunistic Infections of AIDS

Uma Banerjee, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

Vijay Chowdhury, Delhi University, South Campus, New Delhi, India

s, Jr., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Vanaja Kumar, TRC, Chennai, India

N. Kumaraswamy, YRG Center for AIDS Research & Education, Chennai, India

Manikuntala Kundu, Bose Institute, Calcutta, India

Sowmya Swaminathan, Tuberculosis Research Center, Chennai, India

Anil Tyagi, University of Delhi, South Campus, New Delhi, India

Jaya Tyagi, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

S. Vijaya, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

Session IV: Neuro-AIDS

Bruce Brew, St. s Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Mahendra Kumar, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL

Avindra Nath, s Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Price, University of California, San Francisco, CA

, Brown University, Providence, RI

Uday Kumar Ranga, JNCASR, Bangalore, India

P. Satishchandra, National Institute of Mental Health and

Neurosciences, Bangalore, India

S. K. Shankar, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences,

Bangalore, India

How to apply: Interested individuals can apply in one of two

categories. Those who are actively involved in laboratory or clinical

research can apply for ‘Full participant’ who will take part in all

three components of the workshop-symposium. However, individuals can

apply for ‘Partial participant’ as well. A Partial Participant will

take part in the symposium and one of the remaining two activities:

either the laboratory component or the round table discussions.

Applications must include: complete biographical sketch (CV), a

one-page description of personal objectives on AIDS prevention research

in India or other SAARC countires detailing how this workshop will aid

in fulfilling those goals. Priority will be given to applicants who are

part of ongoing research efforts and those with significant experience

and/or strong potential for AIDS prevention research in India or other

SAARC countires.

Please send your complete application by email to aitrp@... with a copy

to Dr. Uday Kumar Ranga (udaykumar@...) before 15th March, 2004.

Selected applicants will be informed before June, 2004.

A limited number of candidates will be eligible for housing. The number of total

participant slots available is limited – therefore, applicants are encouraged to

apply at their earliest convenience. The selected candidates will travel to

Bangalore with their own funds and will be required to pay nominal

registration fees.

Organizers

Vinayaka R. Prasad, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New

York, USA

Ranga Uday Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific

Research, Bangalore, India

Ganjam V. Kalpana, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New

York, USA

Vijaya Satchidanandam, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

V. Ravi, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences,

Bangalore, India

Jeymohan ph, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, USA

G. B. Nair, ICDDR,B Center for Health and Population Research,

Bangladesh

The organizers wish to thank the NIH AIDS Research and Reference

Reagent Program, Division of AIDS, NIAID, NIH for providing essential

reagents for the ‘hands-on’ component of this workshop.

_________________________

Please send your complete application by email to aitrp@... with a copy

to Dr. Uday Kumar Ranga (udaykumar@...) before 15th March, 2004.

Selected applicants will be informed before June, 2004.