The Purpose of this Indo-US conference is to bring together all AIDS/HIV International Training Research programs working in India for the purpose of sharing the latest information on basic and translational aspects of AIDS/HIV relevant to India. Our goal is to train young and established investigators new to this field in HIV/AIDS in India and identify challenges in research training and new opportunities and create conditions conductive for networking and collaboration among these groups and maximization of benefits in relation to HIV research and training agenda in the Indian subcontinent.

With 60% of the world’s population, Asia has the potential to surpass Africa in number of people living with AIDS. The situation in India, which accounts for about half of the HIV infections in Asia, is especially serious given the lack of adequate health resources in some areas. There has not been a conference of Indian and International HIV/AIDS researchers focusing on building collaborations, attracting new investigators MDs/PhDs to the field of HIV/AIDS and discussing the latest advances in biology, virology and immunopathology of HIV/AIDS and strategies for preventing HIV/AIDS Infection and transmission. There are a number of US-AITRP awardees working in India, who conduct research training on AIDS/HIV in specific sites. These groups are often not too familiar with the programs and approaches of the other groups. Maximization of the benefits of the AITRP awards and determination of the unique challenges and opportunities in each of the locations remain unmet needs.

Translational Research is the movement of discoveries in basic research to applications at the clinical level. To ensure new discoveries lead to improved public health, clinical science needs to implement biomedical discoveries; develop, test, and bring new prevention strategies into medical practice more rapidly; catalyze change - lower barriers between disciplines; and encourage creative and innovative approaches. There remains a huge gap in translating research conducted in developed nations to the HIV epidemic in underdeveloped and developing countries and presents unique challenges. In this first TRAI US-India Conference the goal is to discuss the advances in basic and clinical research and how they can be translated in India.

TRAI conference will have two major tracks: a basic track and a translational track. Keynote addresses and papers will highlight the work of regional prevention research scientists, and Indian-U.S. research partnerships, practitioners with evaluated programs or running programs with potential for evaluation, and policymakers. Researchers working in the field of basic biology, immunology and virology of HIV (basic track) and vaccines, microbicides and point-of-care testing and clinical HIV medicine (in translational track) are invited to submit their abstract for a maximum of two sessions on topics related to the conference themes.

Key Deadlines:

Registration Deadline: December 30, 2010
Abstract Submission: December 30, 2010