Negative Strand Virus meeting 2013

I have just returned from the Negative Strand Virus meeting held in the city of Granada in the south of Spain. The above is the view from the historic Alhambra palace overlooking the city. This 6 day conference, which usually takes place every three years, is the largest congress of students and professional scientists who investigate the biology of those viruses that utilise a negative sense RNA genome to survive, whether they are single stranded like measles or rabies or segmented like influenza and the bunyaviruses. The event focuses on entry, structural biology, replication, pathogenesis and fighting viruses with antiviral s and vaccines. There is also a considerable emphasis on how viruses evolve. 

For me, the meeting was a real success, getting to hear many of the eminent virologists speaking discuss their findings. It was also tremendous fun thinking about all their recent work and meeting many of them in person. At this meeting I presented a poster outlining my own investigations and was able to discuss the meaning of my work with the conference delegates. 

All in all it was a great meeting and lots of fun outside of the conference itself. Hopefully I met some people which I will run into again and again in the future.