OUR MISSION
The training and support of new generations of researchers in virus assembly are priorities of the Conference; this is achieved by providing trainees the opportunity to present their work, be exposed to cutting edge research, and interact with an international scientific community.
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XXVII PVA aims to empower the diversity and equity of the meeting by being held online and free of charge. Early stage researchers are encouraged to present their results and benefit from the thought input from senior PVA attendees.
XXVII PVA organising committee
Meet the team standing behind this year's conference. You can read the scope of their research interest below.
PHAGE/VIRUS ASSEMBLY
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The Biennial Conference on Phage/Virus Assembly (PVA) is the continuation of a series that was initiated in 1968. The first meetings included scientists working on mechanisms of bacteriophage assembly, and it has since expanded to include all virus systems. This conference is held during alternate years with the biennial FASEB Virus Structure and Assembly meeting.
JULIANA
CORTINES
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, BR
I’ve been coming to PVA since 2003 and right there and then I fell in love with the Science, the community and the opportunities that young researchers had to present their work at a very supportive environment. It is now a great honor to be part of the organizing committee in these challenging times. I am currently an associate professor at the Virology Department form the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. My lab research focuses on the application of bacteriophage P22 in nanotechnology for drug delivery and, on the other end of virus sizes, we want to understand how giant viruses “work”. We love anything and everything viral! I hope you all have a great time and “see” you soon!
ROBERT
DUDA
University of Pittsburgh, US
Our lab uses bacteriophages as model systems to learn how proteins assemble into complex biological structures. The structural components of phages are particularly appropriate because they are large enough that we can visualize them using electron microscopy and detect them using simple gel assays, but simple enough that we know all of the genes required to produce them and can easily make mutations in these genes and study their effects on assembly and structure.
SUNDHARRAMAN SUBRAMANIAN
Michigan State University, US
I attended my first PVA in 2019 and the community is awesome and very supportive. I am interested in studying phage-microbe interactions of environmental phage isolates.
OLIVER
BAYFIELD
University of York, UK
I am interested in the mechanisms of self-assembly and packaging of viral capsids and bacterial capsid-like species (encapsulins), using a combined structural approach consisting of cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography to study these species.
PAVOL
BARDY
University of York, UK
I attended my first PVA in 2019 and immediately fell in love with its atmosphere and community. I am interested in the research of structural causes of virion adaptability, from the environmental stability to changes required for turning natural viruses into gene transfer vehicles.
VENIGALLA
RAO
The Catholic University of America, US
My laboratory uses a combination of approaches; molecular genetics, recombinant DNA, biochemistry, bioinformatics, structural biology, and single molecule biophysics, to investigate the mechanism of bacteriophage T4 assembly and DNA packaging. Some of the basic knowledge is harnessed for biomedical applications such as vaccines and gene therapeutics. Current focus is to design multivalent single dose vaccines against anthrax, plague, HIV and SARS-CoV-2.
