“21st International Bioinformatics Workshop on Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (VEME)"
Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Sunday, August 14 - Friday, August 19, 2016
The 21st International Workshop on Virus Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology (VEME2016) will be hosted by the Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Organizing committee: Anne-Mieke Vandamme (KU Leuven – University of Leuven, Belgium), Tulio de Oliveira (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven – University of Leuven, Belgium), Mattia Prosperi (University of Florida, USA), Man-Seong Park (Korea University College of Medicine, Korea), Jin Il Kim (Korea University College of Medicine, Korea), Soo-Yon Rhee (Stanford University, USA).
Combating viral spread and their associated disease burden is a tremendous challenge requiring significant research efforts and dedicated measures, in public health, veterinary care, and agriculture strategies. Viral sequence data is a major asset in the characterization of pathogens. Understanding the processes that generate genetic diversity assists in the struggle against viral infections and enhances our understanding of past evolutionary and epidemiological events. It can also help in the identification of the origins of new epidemics, in monitoring the effectiveness of therapeutic strategies, and eventually in predicting the behavior of viral epidemics. Advances in bioinformatics have led to improved approaches to investigating viral outbreaks that ave been successfully applied to viruses including the Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV), the Ebola virus, the Dengue viruses, the Chikungunya virus and the Influenza virus.
The VEME workshop provides both theoretical and practical training in phylogenetic inference and evolutionary hypothesis testing as applied in virology and molecular epidemiology. It is recognized as one of the best international virus bioinformatics courses. It covers sequence analysis, phylogenetics, phylodynamics methods, and large scale methods for next-generation sequencing (NGS) analytics.
The abstract and application deadline is February 28th
The workshop will provide 90 virologists with intensive training in the mathematical principles and computer applications used in the study of virus evolution and for conducting detailed molecular epidemiological investigations.
Selections will be made by the beginning of April. Participation is limited to 30 scientists in each module and is dependent on a selection procedure based on the submitted abstract and statement of motivation.
The registration fee of 900 Euro covers attendance, lunches and coffee breaks. A limited number of grants are available for scientists who experience difficulties to attend because of financial reasons.