Society for Virology
| Society for Virology (GfV) |
|
|---|---|
| legal form | registered association |
| founding | July 9, 1990 |
| Seat | gain |
| Chair | Ralf Bartenschlager |
| Members | about 1000 |
| Website | gfv.org |
The Society for Virology eV (GfV) is a specialist society for all virological specialties in Germany , Austria and Switzerland , based in Erlangen .
It was founded in 1990 after leading virologists saw their interests and the tasks of the subject virology no longer represented in the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM). The focus was originally on basic virological research, viral genetics and molecular virology; later she also represented medical virology , virological infectiology, immunology and plant virology on an equal footing at annual meetings . It is now the largest virological specialist society in Europe.
founding
Due to the increasing importance of virus infections and virological research in the 1960s and 1970s, which was also reflected in the establishment of our own purely virological chairs and the appointment of professorships for virology in Germany (1964 Gießen Veterinärmedizin, 1966 Gießen Institute for Medical Virology , 1967 Heidelberg Institute for Medical Virology, 1975 FU Berlin Institute for Clinical and Experimental Virology , 1978 FU Berlin Veterinary Virology and others), virology was not sufficiently represented in the DGHM as a microbiological specialist society. In 1977 an amendment to the statutes resulted in the DGHM being broken down into four sections, with virology forming section IV; the first chairman of this section was Rudolf Rott (Giessen). The virological section organized its own lecture events during the annual DGHM conferences, and independent of this, its own virological symposia. In addition to the DVV as a virological specialist society with a focus on public health (formerly the German Society for Combating Polio ), there was no institutional representation of virologists in Germany. After the virologists in the American Society for Virology became independent in the USA in 1981 for similar reasons , the question of a separate German specialist society became more urgent in the 1980s. During these years the DGHM also began to concentrate on clinical issues, bacteriological research and hygiene; whereas molecular research and international links to the subject were not taken into account from the virologists' point of view.
On July 9, 1990, the GfV was founded in Nuremberg . 67 representatives from well-known virological research institutions were present at the founding meeting, including virologists from Switzerland, Austria and the still existing GDR . In contrast to the DGHM, the company was therefore deliberately founded not as a German, but as a German-speaking company. Bernhard Fleckenstein (Erlangen) was the founding president . In addition to a board consisting of Bernhard Fleckenstein, Otto Haller (Freiburg), Leopold Döhner (Greifswald), Nikolaus Müller-Lantzsch (Homburg / Saar) and Rüdiger Braun (Wuppertal), an advisory board of eight people was elected: Walter Dörfler (Cologne), Hans Joachim Eggers (Cologne), Peter Hans Hofschneider (Martinsried), Hans-Dieter Klenk (Marburg), Rudolf Rott (Gießen), Jochen Süss (Potsdam), Hildegard Willers (Hanover) and Harald zur Hausen (Heidelberg). The advisory board also included the chairmen of the seven permanent working committees of the GfV: research and young scientists ( Volker ter Meulen , Göttingen), teaching, advanced training and further education ( Reiner Thomssen , Göttingen), diagnostics ( Christian Kunz , Vienna), immunization ( Günther Maass , Münster), virus safety ( Wolfram H. Gerlich , Gießen), chemotherapy ( Wilhelm Dörr , Frankfurt), editorial committee ( Herbert Pfister , Erlangen). By 1994 the number of members rose to around 640. As early as 1991, the DGHM dissolved Section IV (Virology).
tasks
The purpose of the specialist society is to represent all of virology in medicine, veterinary medicine and plant biology. The GfV supports the training and further education of young scientists, virological publications and academic training. With currently more than 1000 members, the GfV is the largest virological specialist society in Europe. With numerous commissions, guidelines and statements, it is the main contact for research, health care and politics. She represents virology to the German Research Foundation .
Since 1991 the GfV has been organizing the so-called spring conference as the main conference of the society, whose negotiations are conducted in English. In addition, the GfV organizes a wide range of specialist conferences on special areas and issues of virology. It works very closely with the German Association for Combating Virus Diseases eV (DVV) as an institutional society in Germany. The GfV annually awards the renowned Loeffler Frosch Prize for outstanding research work in virology and, since 2006, the Loeffler Frosch Medal to outstanding personalities in German-speaking virology.
The presidents were Hans-Dieter Klenk , Otto Haller , Bernhard Fleckenstein , Thomas Mertens , and Hartmut Hengel. The current president is Ralf Bartenschlager (Heidelberg).
Membership in umbrella organizations
The GfV is a member of the Working Group of Scientific Medical Societies , the German National Biology Committee , which represents the interests of bioscientists in international organizations, and the International Union of Microbiological Societies . The society is a member of the VBIO - Association of Biology, Biosciences and Biomedicine in Germany , which is committed to the biosciences in Germany.
literature
- Klaus Munk: Virology in Germany: the development of a specialty. Karger, Freiburg i. B. (1995) ISBN 3-8055-6004-4 p. 163ff