The 68th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Virology

I am delighted to announce that the 68th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Virology will be held at Kobe International Conference Center in a hybrid format from November 16th, 2021 (Tue) to November 18th, 2020 (Thu). This academic meeting was originally scheduled to be held last year, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.

The first example of disease attributed to a virus dates back to B.C. While it is true that viruses can be threatening to their hosts, as viruses have coevolved with their hosts, they have also helped to shape host evolution. Thus, elucidating strategies for virus survival may also lead to illumination and understanding of host processes. For this reason, “Illuminating the Depths of Virology” was chosen as the theme of this annual meeting.

Unknown life-threatening viruses like SARS-CoV-2 can emerge suddenly. However, even if existing viruses are eradicated, newer, as-yet-unknown viruses will continue to surface. We recognize that infectious disease will not disappear and that virology will always be important in the world.

On the other hand, advances in science have greatly changed the history of virology. At this academic meeting, to commemorate the awarding of the 2020 Nobel Prize, Dr. Michael Houghton and Dr. Charles M Rice will lecture on Hepatitis C virus. The keynote lecture will be given by Dr. David M Knipe, who will lecture on herpesvirus. These plenary lectures tie together our two symposia, "Hepatitis C virus" and "persistent infections".

During this annual meeting, we plan to organize an international symposium by co-hosting the meeting with the research program "Neovirology", supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of the Japan and Japanese Society of Microbial Ecology, a symposium by co-hosting with Japanese society of clinical virology titled ‘COVID-19-from Basic to Clinical- ‘, and an international symposium by co-hosting with US-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program (USJCMP), Viral Disease Panel, titled ’Emerging Virus Infections: Pathogens, pathogenesis, and pathophysiology’ focused on emerging and reemerging infectious diseases.
　In addition, we plan to hold an educational lecture, a mini-symposium, and an emergency session on SARS-CoV-2.

The symposium will be in person at the venue. The sessions for oral and poster presentations will be virtual, with real-time discussions, and the presentations will also be delivered virtually, on demand.

We hope that this annual meeting will provide an opportunity for domestic and foreign researchers in virology to gather in one place and discuss their recent data encompassing basic, epidemiological and clinical researches on various viruses. It is our sincere hope that all of you will participate. We would be extremely delighted for you to come to the meeting and while you are here.
　We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!