18 Annual Meeting Society of Virology - Gesellschaft für Virologie ...

Welcome
Welcome to the 18 th Annual Meeting of the GfV –
Society of Virology
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the Organizing Committee we welcome you to the 2008 annual meeting of
the Society of Virology (GfV). This meeting has been organised by virologists working at
the Hygiene-Institute of the Heidelberg University Hospital and at the German Cancer
Research Center (DKFZ).
With approximately 800 participants and 530 submitted abstracts this meeting reflects
the strength of experimental virology in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and the
important role of the Society of Virology as home of virology in these countries. We are
convinced that the scientific programme of this meeting will provide many new ideas and
stimulating discussions - be it in response to lectures by invited speakers, as a result of
participating in the lunch symposia on recent developments in imaging technologies and
HPV vaccination, after listening to submitted talks or after studying one of the many
posters. There will also be many opportunities for setting up new collaborations and
renewing old links. In this context we would also like to point out that various committees
and study groups will have their individual meetings during this conference as indicated
in the programme. If you wish to participate in one of these study groups please join
their discussions. If you are thinking of forming study groups, this could be brought up at
the Annual General Meeting of the GfV on Thursday evening.
Organizing this meeting would not have been possible without the generous sponsorship
of many companies whose names are listed in this programme. Furthermore, we thank
the many unnamed colleagues and students from all participating institutions whose
active support and energy made this meeting possible. We are looking forward to an
exciting conference and a pleasant reunion with our fellow virologists. We sincerely hope
that you will have a great time in Heidelberg and a most enjoyable and stimulating
meeting.
Ralf Bartenschlager Lutz Gissmann Hans-Georg Kräusslich
VI