Virus Discovery in the Clinical Setting

7-12 March 2010
Closing date for applications: 6 November 2009
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge

Course summary
This course will provide training for health care scientists, specialist registrars and consultants in virology (including joint medical microbiology and infectious diseases) in the application of current molecular and serological techniques in identifying and characterising a novel virus in a clinical setting.

The course will consist of a mixture of theoretical and practical sessions around a theme of using modern laboratory methods to identify the source of an outbreak. Please note that an application for CPD accreditation for this course will be submitted to the Royal College of Pathologists and the Institute of Biomedical Science.

Programme
Identification of emerging infectious agents - pathogen discovery
Nucleic acid extraction, real-time PCR assays and primer and probe design
PCR product identification and cloning
Sequencing and bioinformatics
Practical aspects of proteomics
Practical aspects of ELISA design
Theoretical aspects of Microarrays
Epidemiological and public health investigations in an outbreak situation

Course organisers
Dr Kevin Brown (Health Protection Agency)
Dr Mark Zuckerman (Health Protection Agency and King's College Hospital)
2009 Invited speakers (2010 speakers TBC shortly)
Dr David Brown (Virus Reference Department, Health Protection Agency)
Dr Oliver Pybus (Department of Zoology, University of Oxford)
Dr Mary Ramsey (Immunisation Division, Health Protection Agency)
Dr Richard Madeley (Professor of Clinical Virology, Newcastle University [now retired])
Professor Haroun Shah (Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency)

Participant feedback from the 2009 course
"Excellent organisation and teaching facilities. Laboratory staff very helpful and accommodating. Accommodation very comfortable and clean. Catering and meals wonderful! Course instructors always very willing to answer questions and very helpful. Very nice informal atmosphere."

"Many thanks to all the organisers and speakers. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and will go back with many new ideas - just need to get some funding for them now!!"

"Overall excellent and well organised course and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended for my colleagues."

Cost
The course tuition fees are subsidised by The Wellcome Trust for clinicians and scientists based in non-commercial institutions from anywhere in the world. This is a residential course, without exception, and there is a fee of £675 towards board and lodging for non-commercial applicants. The fee for commercial applicants is £3250.

Bursaries
Limited bursaries are available for clinical and academic applicants (50 per cent of fee) and are subject to open competition.

Applications
Applicants will be required to complete an application form containing a 300-word outline of the relevance of the course to their research/clinical work. Please note that documentation supporting their application will be required from the applicant's supervisor/head of department.

Bursaries for Wellcome Trust Advanced Courses
The Wellcome Trust subsidises all courses and workshops, so there are no tuition fees. The ‘course fee' for the UK courses (held at Hinxton) covers on-site accommodation and food for the duration of the course. Bursaries are available to assist with UK course fees, but not travel costs. We are committed to building scientific capacity in developing countries and are expanding the number of courses and workshops run outside of the UK (‘overseas' courses). There is no fee for these courses and bursaries are available for travel, sustenance and accommodation. Please see below for full details.

UK Courses (held at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton)
A limited number of bursaries are available for each course. These are awarded by the selection committee according to merit. The bursary usually covers 50 per cent of the course fee, though in exceptional circumstances an application for the total course fee may be considered. Where there are many bursary applications, the selection committee may issue smaller amounts. We cannot assist with travel costs. All bursary requests to attend UK courses must be accompanied by a bursary application form. This must be completed and signed by your scientific sponsor (supervisor or head of department) and include justification for the bursary. Applicants will be notified of a bursary award along with their place on the course, usually within one month of the application deadline. We will reject incomplete applications. Both the application form and sponsor's letter must be received before the application deadline. The decision of the selection committee is final.

Overseas courses (held outside the UK)
A number of bursaries are available for each overseas course. These are awarded by the selection committee according to merit. There is no course fee.The bursary will cover travel, accommodation and sustenance. The maximum award for travel (in economy/second class) will be £750. All likely travel costs must be detailed in the overseas bursary application form, which must accompany all bursary requests for courses held outside of the UK. We will notify you of the chosen hotel and sustenance award if successful. The selection committee may judge that a partial award should be granted. We will reject incomplete applications. Both the application form and sponsor's letter must be received before the application deadline.