It is a pleasure to invite you to participate in the "Fourth International Conference on Human Polyomaviruses and Human Disease: Basic and Clinical Perspectives" which will take place next 30th September- 3rd October 2007 in Barcelona (Spain).

This meeting originated from a series of small NIH workshops focusing on JC virus and PML. The meeting then grew to include other polyomaviruses associated with human diseases and until now three International conferences on this topic have been organized in Florence (Italy) 2003, Sapporo (Japan) in 2004 and Providence (USA) in 2005 being widely attended by scientists and physicians from many different countries.

The programmed sessions will cover different aspects of the human polyomaviruses JCPyV and BKPyV, and the recently recognized LPyV as polyomavirus potentially infecting humans. The covered topics will include molecular biology and pathogenesis, potential relation with cancer, transmission, clinical aspects, diagnostic and therapy, with special emphasis on polyomavirus nephropathy in renal transplant recipients and on the relations between PML and immunological disorders. The meeting may also become a useful forum to follow the progress on the efforts for the standardization of diagnostic methods of polyomaviral-related diseases.

The conference will provide a forum for students, post-docs and established virologist and physicians to meet. The goal of this meeting is to bring together scientist from academic and clinical institutions and also from industry for two and a half days, to exchange insights and information, enhance interactions and review the new developments related to human polyomaviral infections. The most recent information on important topics that is receiving a lot of attention with the development of PML in patients of inflammatory diseases, such as MS and rheumatoid arthritis, undergoing treatment with recently developed immunomodulator therapies such as Natalizumab or Rituximab will be presented and discussed.

Barcelona is a very friendly city that will provide a warm environment for the development of an International Conference with interesting sessions and discussions, where we will try to advance in the study of human polyomaviral infections and in the development of cooperative efforts between scientists from the diverse disciplines involved in the study of human polyomaviral infections.

Rosina Gironés
Conference Chair