The COVID-19 global pandemic has disrupted nearly all aspects of modern life, while long-term psychological, socio-economic, and health impacts remain unknown. Medical and academic personnel are deeply involved in the struggle against the virus, and need support to not become overwhelmed by available scientific information.
Therefore, four Belgian professional societies (Virology, Immunology, Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) have joined forces in the organization of a one-day, Interdisciplinary symposium on COVID-19. We are convinced that our program will provide a comprehensive summary of contemporary knowledge on COVID-19.
We present four consecutive sessions, each hosted by one society and featuring both a keynote lecture and two complementary presentations. There will be room for young scientists to present their work in short, pre-recorded talks. The closing lecture will be given by Prof. Stanley Perlman, one of the most prominent academic voices on Sars-CoV-2.
A first session will cover basic virology, host cell interactions and pathological manifestations of Covid-19 infection. Prof. Johan Neyts (KULeuven) will introduce the virus and its characteristics, while Prof. Bart Lambrecht (UGent) will detail current knowledge on pathological manifestations. The session will be concluded by a keynote from Volker Thiel (University of Bern, CH), with two decades of experiences in molecular work on coronaviruses.
A second session will focus on therapies and non-pharmaceutical interventions. While a speaker for state-of-the art therapeutic approaches is to be appointed, Prof. Niel Hens (UHasselt) will discuss the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions like social distancing and confinements, and Prof. Davide Corti (Vir Biotechnology, USA) will present the development of monoclonal antibodies targeting Covid-19.
A third focus will be on epidemiology and socio-economic impact. Sciensano’s Dr. Sophie Quolin will describe the national epidemiology of the disease and the underlying machinery of producing daily updates of numbers of infections and hospitalizations. Two speakers, Prof. Sandy Tubeuf (UCLouvain) and Prof. Philippe Beutels (UAntwerpen) will focus on the economic impact on various populations and sectors. Finally, Prof. Simon Dellicour (ULB) will describe his work on molecular epidemiological approaches to track and understand the dispersal dynamic of SARS-CoV-2.
A final session on immune response and vaccination will feature talks of Prof. Jonathan Douxfils (UNamur) focusing on the thrombotic risk associated with COVID-19 pathogenesis and unusual thrombosis associated with thrombocytopenia in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. Professor Petra Bacher (Kiel University, GER) will explore the role of SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells and preexisting immunity in COVID-19 disease.
As cherry on the cake, Prof. Stanley Perlman (University of Iowa, USA), who spend his entire academic career studying coronaviruses and who is one the leading academic voices on SARS-CoV-2, will give a keynote lecture on his views on the current and future outbreaks of coronaviruses.
Apart from these speakers, the symposium also features poster presentations from national researchers on Covid-19, and five short selected talks. The meet-the-speaker sessions together with the virtual coffee breaks and networking session presented plenty of opportunities to connect with each other.
We hope to meet you online, on June 24, on this exciting day of science and progress. Registration is free of charge, and all sessions account for accreditation points.
