I am delighted to announce the Fourth International Workshop on HIV Persistence during Therapy, scheduled for December 8-11, 2009 at the Radisson St. Martin Hotel, St Martin. Since the first edition of this workshop in 2003, the  issue  of  “HIV  Persistence &  Reservoirs” has become more relevant, not only for the biologist but also for the clinician facing the problem of a long-term control of a persistent retroviral infection.
Because vaccine research is in the doldrums, more attention is now paid to these reservoirs and to new therapeutic strategies capable of targeting HIV at this level.

As this Workshop is now recognized as "THE reference workshop on HIV reservoirs", the program format will continue to follow the past successes and include presentation of new, unpublished data and a panel of experts to sum up the current data in the field. Priority will be given to the quality of scientific research and new data. These guidelines enabled us to achieve coverage of the past workshops by major international journals. We encourage highly animated scientific exchanges, in a relaxed and friendly environment. To achieve these goals, the number of participants is voluntarily limited and participants must have submitted abstracts for selection as either an oral or poster presentation. As in previous years, selection will be extremely rigorous and conducted by the Scientific Committee.

Kind regards,

Alain Lafeuillade, MD
On behalf of the Organizing Committee