• Canada
• Wellcome Trust close
• 2005 close

It is now clear that any delays in developing an effective vaccine will increase the burden from HIV/AIDS in the parts of the world that can least afford it. In the true spirit of the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise, forums which allow open and transparent exchange of information and data sharing are absolutely needed. We firmly believe that an international scientific conference which aims 1) to address the scientific roadblocks to vaccine development, 2) to identify promising strategies that may help overcome those roadblocks, 3) to encourage open discussions of the most recent results from pre-clinical and clinical vaccine trials and 4) to facilitate the initiation of new collaborations will accelerate the development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine and help the developing world reach the elusive goal of developing an efficacious vaccine to HIV. However, the achievement of this objective is only possible through close collaboration with scientists from countries most affected by the HIV pandemic; scientists and clinicians from affected countries are valued and crucial colleagues in our mission to develop an HIV vaccine and this every possible effort has to be made to integrate this group of scientists in this effort. The AIDS vaccine 2005 has as major objective to ensure that this group is an integral component of the global effort. The topics that will be covered includes: Major scientific obstacles in the field of vaccine development Clinical trials Manipulating and enhancing immune response. Challenges in vaccine development: perspective of developing countries Prophylactic vaccines Neonatal immunity and maternal-fetal transmission Challenges in developing therapeutic vaccines Lessons learned from successful vaccines Immune memory: how to induce and measure B cell and antibody response to HIV Comparison of immune responses in animal and humans Global Enterprise and other collaborative partnerships