Many Hosts of Mycobacteria Meeting VI

? DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): The 6th Many Hosts of Mycobacteria (MHM VI) meeting will be held at the Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC) in Covington, Louisiana in March 2015. This meeting is co-organized by Michelle Larsen (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Ray Waters (National Animal Disease Center, USDA), and Don Ennis (University of Louisiana at Lafayette). Deepak Kaushal (Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, TNPRC) is the local host for the 6th Many Hosts of Mycobacteria meeting and a member of the planning committee. The purpose of the meeting series is to bring together basic researchers, clinicians, and veterinary medicine researchers that study mycobacterial diseases/hosts. The previous five Many Hosts of Mycobacteria meetings have been held at the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa (September 2007), Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (September 2008), the historic former leprosy sanatorium in Carville, Louisiana (November 2009), Lowry Zoo in Tampa, Florida (March 2011), and Bethesda, Maryland (July 2012). These meetings are small (~70-80 attendees) and have open registration. A workshop format is used for the meetings to foster open and interactive discussion. The diverse perspectives are exemplified by inclusion of thirteen models (mouse, guinea pig, cotton rat, rabbit, badger, possum, armadillo, fish, deer, cattle, elephant, monkeys and humans) and both experimental and natural infections (Tuberculosis from M. bovis and M. tuberculosis; Leprosy from M. leprae, Johne's Disease from M. avium paratuberculosis, and general mycobacterial infections from M. ulcerans and non-tuberculous mycobacteria). With an overarching theme of mycobacterial diseases and hosts, each meeting has had a specific focus: utility and limitations of these models in understanding myobacterial disease, pathogenesis, and vaccine development (MHM I, Ames, IA); immunopathology (MHM II, Gettysburg, PA); comparative mycobacteriology (MHM III, Carville, LA); biomarkers (MHM IV, Tampa, FL); and translational science (MHM V, Bethesda, MD). The theme of the 6th Many Hosts of Mycobacteria meeting will be host specificity and mycobacterial disease dynamics. We target inclusion of young investigators as speakers and moderators for these meetings to foster discussion of new ideas and allow for development of collaboration between research groups that do not typically interact with each other.