Strong School of Pharmacy presence at Munich Medical Biodefence Conference

Cardiff School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences had a major presence at the 16th Medical Biodefence Conference hosted by the Institute for Microbiology of the Bundeswher in Munich. The event ran from the 28^th to 31^st October and was focussed on keeping populations safe against biochemical threats.

Key note presentations were given by Professors Les Baillie and Andrea Brancale, both of the School of Pharmacy, who spoke about the current challenges of biodefence vaccines and antiviral and antibiotic development, respectively.

Also present was Dr Marcella Bassetto, who presented on her work synthesising novel antiviral nucleosides as potential treatments for arbovirus infections.

Another speaker at the conference was former Cardiff University School of Medicine staff member, and now collaborator, Dr Joachim Bugert. Dr Bugert is currently a Surgeon Commander in the German Navy based at the Institute for Microbiology, and is involved in a number of joint projects with colleagues from across the School. Both parties are keen to explore closer links between the two institutions. In recent years the German military have invested heavily in their antiviral testing capabilities, and already the School of Pharmacy collaborate with the teams, testing compounds for their activity against known agents. It is hoped that this is just the beginning of a fruitful partnership.

Professor Baillie said, ‘It is our goal to mutually develop antiviral agents combing the unique skills of our School with the huge resources of the German military, the end goal being to keep our populations safe.’