A paper on the "ViroLab Virtual Laboratory" has been accepted for presentation at the CBMS 2008 meeting held on June 17-19, 2008 at University of Jyväskylä, Finland. More information on the CBMS 2008 conference: http://cbms2008.it.jyu.fi/

The KU KDM'08 (The Conference of the High Performance Computers' Users - http://www.cyfronet.pl/kdm08/program.html) will take place in Zakopane, Poland, on 6-7 March 2008. The Virtual Laboratory will be presented at this event in two ways: through poster titled "Virtual Laboratory for the Development and Execution of Collaborative Applications" and through brochure titled "ViroLab Virtual Laboratory". The brochure which will be distributed among the participants of the event.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2008) — The combined supercomputing power of the UK and US ‘national grids’ has enabled UCL (University College London) scientists to simulate the efficacy of an HIV drug in blocking a key protein used by the lethal virus. The method – an early example of the Virtual Physiological Human in action – could one day be used to tailor personal drug treatments, for example for HIV patients developing resistance to their drugs.

CBMS 2008 is intended to provide an international forum for discussing the latest results in the field of computational medicine. The scientific program of CBMS 2008 will consist of invited keynote talks given by leading scientists in the field, and regular and special tracks sessions that cover a broad array of issues which relate computing to medicine.

A special track will be dedicated to Healthgrid Computing - Applications to Biomedical Research and Healthcare.

During the last decade, CBMS symposiums were held in different countries and locations including Maribor, Slovenia (2007, 2002, and 1997), Salt Lake City, USA (2006), Dublin (2005), Bethesda MD, USA (2004 and 2001), New York City, USA (2003), Houston TX, USA (2000), Stamford CT, USA (1999), and Lubbock TX, USA (1998).

For more information, please go to

http://sara.unile.it/cbms2008/cfp.htm

http://cbms2008.it.jyu.fi

Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of HIV infection is essential for the design and development of an effective vaccine and the next generation of antiviral agents. This Keystone Symposia meeting will focus on (1) our understanding of HIV proteins and their functions, (2) host factors used to aid in viral replication, (3) viral genetic diversity and adaptation, and (4) the central role of the destruction of CD4+ T cells in lymphoid tissue to the pathogenesis. The pathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection from transmission through clinical latency, including the means used by the virus to establish infection and propagate in target cells and evade the innate and adaptive host defense mechanisms will be examined. Scientists from diverse disciplines will be brought together with the objective of devising vaccines and other biology-based ways to prevent transmission and progression to AIDS. The meeting will promote further insights into the dynamic interplay between the virus, the host, and its immune response.

It is of major importance to continue this educational programme. Therefore we are organising a 6th European HIV Drug Resistance Workshop, From basic science to clinical implications, that will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from 26 – 28 March 2008.

This conference will be a unique event focusing on recent developments in novel methods and modelling of complex systems for diverse areas of science, scalable scientific algorithms, advanced software tools, computational grids, advanced numerical methods, and novel application areas where the above novel models, algorithms and tools can be efficiently applied such as physical systems, computational and systems biology, environmental systems, finance, and others.

Peter Sloot contributed a short article to iSGTW, the International Science Grid This Week newsletter, which is read by more than 15,000 people every week. With 3500 subscribers, iSGTW promotes grid computing around the world by sharing stories of grid-empowered science and scientific discoveries (see http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1000653).

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