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H5N1 research: biosafety, biosecurity and bioethics

03 - 04 April 2012 09:00 - 18:00

An international scientific meeting to discuss the practice and policy of H5N1 research, with a programme of talks and discussions organised by Professor John Skehel FRS and Professor Simon Wain-Hobson.

The journals Nature and Science have recently received papers from two teams of researchers showing that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that could spread rapidly among a human population. Various national and international bodies have expressed concern that the safety and security of both the research worker and wider society needs to be considered before work of this kind is published in full. Set against this is the basic principle of openness in science: scientists should operate openly and publish their findings. This conference will discuss virus research, and the safety, security, and ethical aspects from the perspectives of researchers, publishers, policymakers and funders. 

Biographies of the organisers and speakers are available below and you can also download the programme (PDF). Video recordings of the presentations are available in the outline below.

Organised by the Royal Society in partnership with the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Foundation for Vaccine Research with support from the American Society for Microbiology, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Fondation Mérieux, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Institut Pasteur, and the Society for General Microbiology.

Organisers

  • Sir John Skehel FMedSci FRS, Vice-President and Biological Secretary, The Royal Society

    John Skehel has provided major insights into the molecular basis of how viruses recognise and infect their host cells. John focusses on the virus that causes influenza, of which there are 3–5 million cases a year worldwide, resulting in up to 500,000 deaths. 

    To infect a cell, the influenza virus must bind to a sialic acid-containing receptor on the cell surface, which it achieves through its own haemagglutinin glycoprotein. John was able to isolate, crystallise and subsequently determine the three-dimensional structure of this molecule. He also observed that under conditions of low pH, haemagglutinin changes shape — allowing the virus to fuse with and enter the cell.

    John has been a leader in virology research for over thirty years. He headed the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza between 1975 and 1993 and was the Director of the National Institute for Medical Research from 1987–2006. His pioneering research was recognised in 1996 when he received a knighthood.

  • Professor Simon Wain-Hobson

    Simon Wain Hobson did his thesis work in biophysics at the University of Oxford. He has been at the Institut Pasteur since 1980 and his most widely known for his work on the molecular biology of HIV publishing first the sequence in 1985, which turned out to be that of the first primate lentivirus. The enormous genetic plasticity of the virus provided enormous insights into how and where the virus was replicating in vivo. He is holder of licensed patents concerning HIV genomes and diagnostics. Exploiting the theme of genetic editing, he has moved on to cancer research and the role of the APOBEC3 DNA mutators in cancer and other human diseases. He was a professor at 43 and is a member of EMBO and Academia Europaea and is an Officier de la l’Legion d’Honneur. He is a laureate of the André Lwoff and the Athena prizes. In 2010 he co-founded Invectys, a biotech company dedicated to cancer vaccination.