UK Hepacivirus and Flavivirus Meeting: 16th-18th May 2025

Held at Rydal Hall, in the Lake District, the UK Hepacivirus and Flavivirus meeting is a fantastic environment for sharing your latest work. We pride ourselves on a supportive and relaxed atmosphere, which makes the meeting a great platform for students and postdocs. The meeting also includes ample time for exploring the local hills and discussing your work with national, and international experts in all things Hepacivirus and Flavivirus.

Joe Grove (MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research)

Azim Ansari (University of Oxford)

Kevin Maringer (The Pirbright Institute)

Laura Martin-Sancho (Imperial College London)

Stephanie Rainey (MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research)

REGISTRATION IS OPEN, CLICK HERE

David S. Goodsell via the RCSB Protein Data Bank

David S. Goodsell via the RCSB Protein Data Bank

Plenary Speaker 2025

Rushika Perera

We are very pleased to confirm that our plenary speaker for 2025 is Dr Rushika Perera.

Dr. Rushika Perera is an Associate Professor at the Center for Vector-borne Infectious Diseases at Colorado State University, where she leads a research group investigating how host metabolism influences viral infections. Specifically, her group focuses on understanding the intricate relationships between metabolic processes and mosquito-borne viruses like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya in both the human host and mosquito vector.

Her team employs systems biology approaches such as metabolomics and lipidomics, together with molecular virology, and structural biology. By meticulously examining the metabolic environment of host cells, her team seeks to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that enable viral replication and transmission. Their work goes beyond traditional virology, focusing on the biochemical landscape that viruses navigate during infection.

The metabolic approach is particularly powerful because metabolites serve as dynamic indicators of the cellular state. These molecular intermediates provide a real-time snapshot of biological processes, offering unprecedented insights into disease progression. As such she is also able to use these methods to identify metabolite biomarker that are early predictors of severe disease. Dr. Perera believes that by understanding these metabolic pathways, scientists can potentially develop strategies to make the cellular environment less hospitable to viral invasion.

She is also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Metabolism of Infectious Diseases (C4MInD) at Colorado State University. C4MInD collaborative research ecosystem that brings together the expertise of over 65 CSU researchers to enable development of new treatments, preventions and diagnostics for infectious diseases by resolving host-vector-pathogen-environment interactions at a metabolic level.

Registration

You can register for the UK Hepacivirus and Flavivirus Meeting 2025, until April 29th, using the form below and by making payment via our Eventbrite page.

This year we have simplified things and have only two registration options (and thanks to our sponsors, have been able to reduce the ticket price a little):

1) Registration, accommodation in Rydal Hall (£280)

2) Registration only (£130)

All options include lunch and dinner, and breakfast for those staying at the hall.

By default, rooms in the hall will be allocated as single occupancy, however, please tick if you are willing to share a twin room, and provide the name of the person you would like to share with. We would really appreciate you choosing this option as it will increase capacity at the meeting.

We’re looking forward to catching up on all of your science, so please submit a talk title, no abstract required, all offered talks will be allocated a presentation slot (~10 min presentation, 2 min questions).

If you have any caring responsibilities or are experiencing challenges that present barriers to your attendance and/or participation in the meeting please get in touch and we can discuss options for support (contact kevin.maringer@pirbright.ac.uk or joe.grove@glasgow.ac.uk)

To register please complete the form and provide payment via this Eventbrite page. IMPORTANT: PLEASE ENSURE YOUR TICKET SELECTION(S) MATCHES YOUR REGISTRATION OPTION(S).

ACCOMMODATION WILL BE ALLOCATED ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS.

ONSITE ACCOMMODATION DEADLINE: 3rd April, 2025.

FINAL REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 29th APRIL, 2025.

If more information is needed please contact Kevin Maringer (kevin.maringer@pirbright.ac.uk) or Joe Grove (joe.grove@glasgow.ac.uk)

Meeting Details

Venue

The meeting is held at Rydal Hall in the Lake District. For those driving there is onsite parking, alternatively the nearest train station is in Windermere, which is only a 15 minute taxi ride from Rydal Hall.

Approximate Schedule

Friday 16th of May: The conference starts with dinner, followed by an evening scientific session of talks and networking. We suggest attendees plan their travel to arrive around 4-5.30 pm at the latest.

Saturday 17th of May: The conference starts with breakfast and a morning session, followed by lunch. Attendees have free time after lunch, and a group activity (typically a local hill hike lasting 2-3 hours) is usually organised. The plenary session is held after dinner, followed by an evening session of scientific talks and networking. Attendees planning on joining the hike should ensure they bring comfortable walking shoes, all-weather clothes, sun protection and a water bottle.

Sunday 18th of May: A morning session runs after breakfast, and the conference ends with lunch. Attendees should plan their travel to depart around or after 2 pm.

Scientific Programme

Full details of the scientific schedule will be circulated closer to the time. Nonetheless, anyone submitting a talk title can expect to be allocated a 12-15minute presentation time.