Press Invitation: Infections Pose a Threat to Global Health
Karolinska Institutet is to host a major international conference on one of the greatest challenges of our age: global infections. The aim of the conference, which will cover a broad range of topics from epidemiology to diagnosis and drugs, is to encourage dialogue between scientists in order to break new ground in the struggle against bacteria and viruses.
Reporters are welcome to attend the conference "Days of Molecular Medicine, Bugs to Bedside to Biotech" and interview the participating scientists.
When: 27-28 October 2016
Where: Stockholm, Karolinska Institutet Campus Solna, Nobels väg 1
The field of infections poses numerous challenges. As people travel more, and with increasing migration, global warming and other factors, viruses, bacteria and parasites are starting to spread with unprecedented rapidity around the planet. Pharmaceutical research has been dragging its heels for many years, and there are few new antibiotics available; with the antimicrobial resistance this causes, the treatability of infections is under threat. Superbugs, a new concept in the field, are bacteria that are resistant to several different antibiotics. New virus infections, such as Ebola and Zika, are also a major problem.
“All in all, this makes infection diseases possibly the single most serious threat to global health, and one way of tackling it is more research,” says conference co-arranger Professor Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Medicine.
The conference at Karolinska Institutet promises the latest research findings, from pathogens to patients, and from laboratory to biotechnology and welcomes many of the world’s most highly reputed researchers and speakers. The packed and varied programme includes talks by:
Peter Piot, former head of UNAIDS (the UN AIDS programme) and professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Professor Piot was involved in the discovery of the ebola virus in 1976 and helped tackle the recent ebola epidemic;
Jean-Marc Rolain, professor at Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie France, who will be talking about superbugs, resistance mechanisms, and how bacterial infections can spread from animals to humans;
Marie-Paule Kieny, deputy director general, Health Systems and Innovation, WHO, and an expert in techniques able to track and prevent the spread of epidemics like Ebola and Zika;
Kim Lewis, Antimicrobial Discovery Center, Northeastern University, USA, a leading researcher in antimicrobial resistance, who will be talking about the possibilities of producing new antibiotics.
The two-day conference is part of a series of meetings entitled Days of Molecular Medicine, which has been focusing for over 15 years on translational medicine and bringing together academia, non-profit foundations, patient organisations and the private sector to help ensure that research is put to clinical use in the interests of human health.
View the entire programme at http://conference.ki.se/dmm/agenda/
For further information, pleae contact:
Professor Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren
+46 70 5334699
Hans-Gustaf.Ljunggren@ki.se
Press Contact Sabina Bossi
+46 8 52486066 eller +46 70 6146066
sabina.bossi@ki.se
Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Its vision is to significantly contribute to the improvement of human health. Karolinska Institutet accounts for over 40 per cent of the medical academic research conducted in Sweden and offers the country´s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.
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