RETROVIRAL SYMPOSIUM 2023

IN SEPTEMBER, THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY HOSTED THE 12 TH INTERNATIONAL RETROVIRAL SYMPOSIUM AT SNOWBIRD, UTAH.

The retroviral symposium is held biannually and is hosted alternatively in the US or Europe. This symposium originally initiated from a group of NIH (National Institutes of Health) researchers which had strong collaborations with European scientists beginning in the 1990s.

Fundamental mechanisms that ensure proper assembly, maturation, and uncoating of retroviruses remain unclear. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for the development of effective antivirals. While HIV antivirals now exist, the rapid evolution of HIV under antiviral selection requires new targets. This past symposium was focused on assembly, maturation, and uncoating and highlighted fundamental biochemical, virological and biophysical mechanisms involved in these processes.

In a novel turn, the symposium also featured a staged reading of an original play, Emergence by playwright Gretchen A. Case, with joint appointments in the U’s Department of Theatre and the Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities at the U’s School of Medicine. Set “in the future, but not so far that it is unrecognizable,” the one-act has four characters: three scientists and an “AI,” as in artificial intelligence. The cast includes “Liv” who is saving her reproductive eggs in jars in a futuristic world where retroviral therapy in human reproduction is the norm. (Retroviruses, it turns out, are critical to the formation of the placenta.) The script is based on the book Discovering Retroviruses by Anna Marie Skalka, professor emerita at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Skalka attended the symposium at a postplay discussion.

TAKING THE LEAP

Also on hand during the post-play discussion was Sydney CheekO’Donnell, chair of the U’s theater department, a long-time collaborator with symposium organizer and U faculty member Saveez Saffarian. Cheek-O’Donnell says that the project is an ongoing attempt to understand and develop a way to work across multiple disciplines between science and arts/ humanities “so that others can take the leap… . Stories,” she says, “are one of the best ways to teach people complicated new ideas.” The play was partially supported by a 1U4U award to Case, Cheek-O’Donnell, and Saffarian.

You can watch a video of the staged reading of “Emergence” at ramm2023.utah.edu/emergence.