Respi-DART 2020

Virtual Meeting / 17 December 2020

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the second edition of RespiDART & Emerging Viruses 2020: Frontiers in Drug Development against Respiratory Viruses to be virtually held on December 17, 2020.

The DART series conferences highlight emerging challenges facing today’s global community. Respiratory viruses such as RSV and influenza virus are important threats to human health, especially in vulnerable populations such as infants, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. The ongoing international distress around the COVID-19 pandemic warrants an up-to-date, high-quality and multi-faceted platform where the latest developments and cutting-edge discoveries can be shared, discussed and analyzed. RespiDART & Emerging Viruses 2020 strives to serve as one such platform by addressing unmet needs in knowledge dissemination and translation, highlighting the latest medical breakthroughs, translating bench science discoveries to real world clinical needs, and identifying current and future roadblocks on the path to successful vaccine and antiviral drug development. Considering recent seismic changes in global health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, RespiDART & Emerging Viruses 2020 will address an urgent and unprecedented need in global health. At the same time, this meeting will serve to highlight other emerging and re-emerging viral threats such as chikungunya, norovirus, nipah, Dengue and yellow fever viruses.

This year’s meeting will focus on topics such as advances in epidemiology, diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccinology, immunity and inflammation, virus/host interactions, enzymology, and new study models in development. Emphasis is placed on sharing the latest clinical data for several small molecules advancing through human trials. Novel drug targets and mechanisms of action will also be heavily explored. Through participation in this two-day event, delegates will be able to attend invited lectures by world-renowned leaders, participate in several interactive panel discussions and take advantage of key networking opportunities included in the program. We hope to see you in December in sunny Los Cabos, or online, as we aim to make the program available in real-time through the conference website.

Program chair,

Raymond F. Schinazi, PhD, DSc

Emory University, USA